Consultance nationale – Engagement du secteur privé dans les soins de santé primaires en Asie du Sud, Bureau régional de l’UNICEF pour l’Asie du Sud (ressortissants pakistanais).

 

 

 

 

 

Background and Rationale:

Every year, 35.3 million children are born in South Asia. According to 2019 estimates, one in 40 of them – that is, 882,000 babies – tragically die in the first month of life (a neonatal mortality rate of 25 per 1,000 live births). A further 524,000 of them die before the age of five (a total under-5 mortality rate of 41 per 1,000 live births). There are 651,000 stillbirths. According to the latest available estimates (from 2017), 57,000 mothers die annually – a maternal mortality ratio of 163 per 100,000 live births.  While more and more children in the region get routinely immunized, challenges with access and equity are still significant. 5.3 million (2021) of the 35 million children born every year remain un- or under-vaccinated. Around 4.3 million of these children are zero-dose children – that is, they receive no immunization at all.

Purpose:

The aim of this consultancy is to identify potential opportunities for engaging the private sector on Primary Health Care (PHC) in the ROSA region and countries. This means examining the private health sector across the region and within individual ROSA countries and proposing ways to strengthen private sector engagement in PHC planning, financing, quality and delivery to ensure timely access to quality PHC services, without financial hardship for all.

The regional part of the analysis provides the basis for engagement (regional road map) and the country-specific action plans provide an immediate way forward to help jumpstart the private sector engagement (e.g., pilot projects, mechanisms for collaboration, policy reform). The consultancy will specifically explore, conceptualize, and prioritize concrete engagement opportunities in two countries, Bangladesh and Pakistan, and develop proposals to turn the most promising of those opportunities into viable pilots/policy reform ready for implementation.

Key Assignments and Tasks:

  1. Preparation of country-specific knowledge products (deep-dives) and strategic documents for private sector engagement in PHC in Pakistan

The consultant will proceed with the development of the knowledge products and country action plan under the overall guidance of the ROSA team and Pakistan country office. The structure and content of all deliverables (and workshops) will be agreed with ROSA team. The delivery and timeline of country specific action plans will be discussed and agreed with UNICEF country offices and the local government and partners (to the best possible extent).

  1. Situation analysis and scoping: understand the country context and background for engaging the private sector (PS) in PHC. Describe the private sector’s current size, recent growth, scope, and role in healthcare at the regional level. For example: % of Health services delivered by PS in the country, (hospital/clinics/pharmacies at various levels, national/local split), contribution of PS towards innovation in health in terms of processes and technologies (digital, eHealth, etc), PS financing, PS contribution to UHC, etc.
  2. Conduct landscaping of existing private sector engagement activities by other partners, evaluate options for strategically strengthening existing initiatives.
  3. Review of government policy towards private sector engagement and evaluate actual state of implementation. Regulatory, legal and implementation mechanisms for PS sector integration in health services (e.g., accreditation, data sharing with HMIS, purchaser-provider mechanisms, payment, and insurance cover, etc.).
  4. Define and prioritize challenges in dealing with private sector and barriers to private sector engagement at country level. Identify opportunities for engagement with PS (feasibility study). Prioritization can be done based (based on urgency, impact, feasibility of resolution, and other factors. Suggest for way forward (regional priorities and roadmap for optimal collaboration with private sector). Focus on actionable recommendations for strengthening private sector participation and engagement.
      • Define a list of engagement opportunities at country level
      • Design engagement mechanisms (events, publications, etc) and target group
      • Prepare a roadmap for private sector engagement in PHC (including feasibility study, costing of PHC packages of services provided by the PS in the country (the cost can be presented as a range)).

Pakistan was selected for a specific country deep-dive, based on expressed interest in PS engagement (by government and stakeholders) and the urgency of engaging the PS since it is already heavily engaged in providing PHC. The country deep-dives should be in the form of action plans that can be integrated with on-going PHC and HSS advocacy activities (at Country Office level) and start being implemented in different formats: pilots, policy and financing reform, advocacy.  The action plans can contain the following parts:

      • Overview and context, describing i) the current role that the private sector holds (size, impact on PHC service, financing contribution, health information system and oversight, etc), ii) government policy, plans and strategies related to private sector engagement in the health sector, national health strategy and sector plan), as well as iii) categorization of different types of private sector engagement mechanisms in place (e.g. donor funded, national/international private sector presence, etc).
      • Challenges and solutions. Based on the above overview and in consultation with government, partner and private sector stakeholders, review opportunities and areas of collaboration and provide a prioritised list of areas for private sector engagement. Prioritisation should be based on country needs/interest, private sector capacity/capability, feasibility of implementation, as well as other relevant factors.

The consultant will work closely with the international consultant preparing the Regional PS engagement in PHC strategy, as well as the consultant working on the country deep-dive for Pakistan.

 Testing and finalizing the country action plans.

  1. Design engagement mechanisms (events, publications, TA support needs, etc.) and identify targets and potential pilot projects for engagement.
  2. Upon completion of the knowledge products (regional strategy and country deep-dives) the consultant will organize a round of ideation workshops to help shape and define concrete engagement opportunities with the private sector in the country. The workshops will target relevant government and private sector stakeholders, UNICEF Country Offices, as well as partners. The workshops will provide a platform for testing the action plan and suggested interventions (pilot, policy change, etc.). The consultant will integrate feedback into the final country action plans on private sector engagement in PHC.
  3. Review and dissemination of the knowledge product at country and regional workshops. Upon completion of the knowledge products (regional strategy and country deep-dives) the consultants (from Bangladesh and Pakistan, as well as international) will organize dissemination workshops (1 regional and 1 in each country) to present the plan with a range of relevant regional and national stakeholders (UNICEF Country Offices, government, private sector, academia, ROSA office, etc). Where needed, the plans should be translated into local languages, to ensure that all stakeholders can fully engage.

Qualification

The Consultant(s) should have:

  • Minimum 8-10 years of experience and expertise in global health, health systems, health economics and the politics of health reforms for PHC including health care financing.
  • Proven experiences of working with government, UN agencies, private sector/industry/thinktanks and other partners in the South Asian region on primary health care.
  • Proven record of undertaking qualitative and quantitative research and assessments with reputed organizations, governments, giving details of jobs undertaken and completed, name of the organizations with their contact numbers, duration, coverage of such survey work, etc.
  • Proven experience in designing and facilitating co-creation sessions with multiple stakeholders.
  • Proven experience in designing and shaping multi-stakeholder (government, international agencies, private sector) implementation pilots that address complex societal outcomes.
  • Proven project management and coordination skills.
  • Skilled meeting and workshop facilitator.
  • Work experience with UNICEF is a strong asset.

Deadline: Nepal Standard Time

Application process