The Clinton Health Access Initiative, Inc. (CHAI) is a global health organization committed to our mission of saving lives and reducing the burden of disease in low-and middle-income countries. We work at the invitation of governments to support them and the private sector to create and sustain high-quality health systems.
CHAI was founded in 2002 in response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic with the goal of dramatically reducing the price of life-saving drugs and increasing access to these medicines in the countries with the highest burden of the disease. Over the following two decades, CHAI has expanded its focus. Today, along with HIV, we work in conjunction with our partners to prevent and treat infectious diseases such as COVID-19, malaria, tuberculosis, and hepatitis. Our work has also expanded into cancer, diabetes, hypertension, and other non-communicable diseases, and we work to accelerate the rollout of lifesaving vaccines, reduce maternal and child mortality, combat chronic malnutrition, and increase access to assistive technology. We are investing in horizontal approaches to strengthen health systems through programs in human resources for health, digital health, and health financing. With each new and innovative program, our strategy is grounded in maximizing sustainable impact at scale, ensuring that governments lead the solutions, that programs are designed to scale nationally, and learnings are shared globally.
At CHAI, our people are our greatest asset, and none of this work would be possible without their talent, time, dedication and passion for our mission and values. We are a highly diverse team of enthusiastic individuals across 40 countries with a broad range of skillsets and life experiences. CHAI is deeply grounded in the countries we work in, with majority of our staff based in program countries. Learn more about our exciting work: http://www.clintonhealthaccess.org
CHAI is an Equal Opportunity Employer, and is committed to providing an environment of fairness, and mutual respect where all applicants have access to equal employment opportunities. CHAI values diversity and inclusion, and recognizes that our mission is best advanced by the leadership and contributions of people with diverse experience, backgrounds, and culture.
Program and Position Overview
CHAI’s health financing program is working with countries across Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia to support Ministries of Health, Finance and government insurers to substantially and sustainably improve access to essential health services for their populations, towards the goal of universal health coverage. Health financing is often insufficient and overly reliant on donors and individuals paying out of pocket at facilities. Low income countries in Africa and South East Asia see over half of the global disease burden, are home to 40% of the global population and account for only 3% of health spending. Donor contributions for health have plateaued, and in many countries are likely to decline in the coming years. Domestic resources for health are increasing, but the rate of growth in government spending dedicated to health fluctuates and is often insufficient to meet population needs. Resources that are made available may not be spent efficiently. Healthcare providers face stock-outs, ration services among patients and charge informal or formal user fees; a deterrent for patients, and particularly the poor, to seek care. Even when patients can afford these fees and funds are available, primary health care systems are often fragmented and weak.
Through our strategy of health financing towards universal health coverage, CHAI is supporting governments to address these challenges by supporting (1) priority setting and benefits package design, (2) investment in upgrading health systems to deliver an optimized package of services, and (3) strengthening or improving domestic financing through public financial management and health financing reforms. At the request of governments, our strategy for health financing is expanding to include work in health systems and management, with a focus on building primary health care systems towards the goal of UHC. This work builds on CHAI’s experience in SRMNCH, health financing and workforce.At CHAI, staff members work closely with government partners, often with permanent desks in government offices at national and sub-national levels, to support evidence-based decision making and design systems to ensure those resources go as far as possible so that providers can deliver quality care that patients can afford and access.
CHAI is seeking a Director with relevant experience in health systems, to provide leadership, strategic and management support to design and implementation of CHAI’s health financing program and emerging primary health care strategy across countries where advisors are working on a day-to-day basis with government partners.
This is a challenging, fast-paced and rewarding position. The Director will report to CHAI’s Senior Director for Health Financing and play a leadership role as part of a growing global health financing team responsible for building out new areas of work for CHAI. This includes directly contributing to and leading CHAI’s strategy in health systems. This Director will work closely with and advise CHAI teams working with Ministries of Health and Finance to design and implement health systems reforms. They will also be responsible for sharing lessons learned between countries and projects, providing direct support to governments and CHAI programs, and representing and communicating work across countries and with CHAI country and global leadership, mobilizing resources and sharing and collaborating on work with donors and partners.