Purpose of the Consultancy

The Ministry of Health under the leadership of the National Centre for Health Promotion has recently developed and endorsed a Primary Health Care Booster Implementation Framework (PHC-BIF) to guide action for further strengthening of primary health care in Cambodia.

The Ministry of Health and The World Health Organization are seeking a local Short-Term Consultant (STC) to support the first phase roll out of this framework including assisting the development of an implementation guideline and demonstration process in two selected provinces. 

Background

Primary health care is whole-of-society approach to health that aims to ensure health and well-being by focusing on population’s needs and timely response to those needs including provision of services from health promotion and disease prevention to treatment and rehabilitation.  Primary health care is the most cost efficient and equitable pathway to reaching the health-related SDGs including Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and is core to health security where, for example, health systems founded in strong PHC were better able to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Primary health care has been central to health system reform in Cambodia since 1995. The district health system, including health centres each serving populations of between 8,000 and 12,000 people along with a referral hospital, provides a geographical focus and population base for strengthening the PHC and overall health system. Over the past two decades PHC has contributed to many of Cambodia’s significant health achievements including reaching the under-five and neonatal mortality SDGs ahead of schedule and reductions in key communicable diseases.  Moving forward as non-communicable diseases and mental health conditions continue to rise and the population ages, strong PHC that promotes health and prevents detects and manages chronic illness will be needed even more in order to meet growing health expectations of the Cambodian population as human and economic development continues to rise.

Since late 2021 The Ministry of Health of Cambodia, with technical support from WHO initiated a discussion on the need to further boost primary health care to accelerate progress toward UHC. This priority of the Royal Government of Cambodia is reflected in health sector plans and the recent development of the PHC Booster Implementation Framework (PHC-BIF) by the Ministry of Health (June 2023). Implementation guidelines and roll out of the PHC-BIF will now start and additional Cambodian local short-term consultancy is needed to support the Ministry of Health and WHO in this process.

Deliverables

Under the supervision of the Health Systems Coordinator, WHO Cambodia, with technical support from the health systems team of the WHO country and regional offices and in collaboration with UNICEF and other development partners, the consultant will work closely with the PHC Secretariate Team in finalizing PHC-BIF Implementation Guideline including tools and support demonstration in two selected provinces.

Output/s

Output 1: Serial of WHO internal and PHC secretariat meetings conducted to draft PHC-BIF implementation guideline including tools that support PHC-BIF demonstration implementation and the national dissemination workshop and planning for PHC-BIF implementation to build understanding of relevant stakeholders and prepare them to embark PHC journey.

Deliverable 1: Draft of PHC-BIF implementation guideline including tools made available prior to the rollout in two selected demonstration sites.
Deliverable 2: Technical report of PHC-BIF dissemination and planning for PHC-BIF implementation workshop made available.

Output 2: Three meetings with stakeholders at subnational level in each of demonstration sites conducted to identify, prioritize and plan PHC boosting activities to be implemented by end of December 2023. 

Deliverable 3: Technical report of start-up and planning meetings with stakeholders at sub-level of two selected sites with activity plan by end of December 2023 made available.
Deliverable 4: Final version of PHC-BIF implementation guideline including tools made available, incorporating findings and feedback from the demonstration sites. 
Deliverable 5: Final technical report including activities implemented by each implementation site completed with lessons learnt and recommendations for further improvement and scaling up nationwide. 

Qualifications, experience, skills and languages

Educational Qualifications:

Essential: Advanced University degree (Masters degree or equivalent, or PhD) in public health, health care planning and management or equivalent. 

Experience:

Essential: At least eight years of experience working in health planning and management in or related to primary health care and community health.
Experience in development and facilitation of planning materials and workshops at sub-national levels. 
High level of country experience and knowledge on health system/service delivery, sub-national and local government structures in Cambodia

Desirable: Previous experience working within a district or provincial administration and / or health department in Cambodia.
Experience in working collaboratively with a range of Departments within the Ministry of Health. 

Language requirements:

Intermediate knowledge of English 

Location

The consultant will be based at the National Center for Health Promotion though working at least one day a week at the WHO Cambodia office.

Travel

The consultant is expected to be able to travel within Cambodia to conduct field visits to provinces, as necessary.  

Additional Information:

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