Technical Advisor, Health Financing

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.

CHAI Lao PDR Program Overview

CHAI commenced in 2018 working with National Immunization Program (NIP)/Maternal and Child Health Center (MCHC) within the Ministry of Health (MoH) in Lao PDR, to strengthen and sustain routine immunization services in the context of anticipated transition from Gavi support in the coming years, while also supporting new initiatives including the rapid implementation of COVID-19 vaccination across the country.

CHAI’s work with the NIP/MCHC focuses on three areas:

• Institutional strengthening at national and sub-national levels to plan, budget, manage, review and adapt the immunization program towards sustained improvements in immunization outcomes, including coverage;
• Sustainable financing of the immunization program in the context of health sector and service delivery reforms; and
• Supply chain strengthening, with focus on improving data visibility and ability to address supply chain management issues across the health system and improving distribution systems particularly at the sub-national level.

Over the last four years, we have had an increasing focus within our vaccines and other programs is on supporting MoH to improve and sustain immunization coverage through more integrated, patient-centered primary health care and achieving universal health coverage by 2030. We currently have an exciting opportunity to build on immunization financing work to support the government broadly in health financing reforms to improve the availability, allocation and utilization of funding for health services, including vaccination, aligned to the Health Financing Strategy 2021-25, Essential Health Services Packages, National Health Insurance and other related policies and interventions.

Summary of Position

Based in Vientiane Capital, the Health Financing Advisor will provide high quality technical advice and support to select departments in the Ministry of Health and to CHAI Laos teams at national and sub-national levels. They will report to the Senior Program Manager, Immunization and MCH.

CHAI is seeking a highly motivated individual with advanced skills and knowledge in health financing and related analyses, completed by experience working in developing country settings alongside national counterparts to implement reforms. They must be self-assured, a fast learner, resilient, and a strong team player.  They should have proven ability at capacity building others as this will be an integral part of the role. CHAI places great value on relevant personal qualities: resourcefulness, responsibility, tenacity, independence, energy, and work ethic. Travel will be required within Lao PDR up to 30% of the time.   

• Carry out resource mapping, budget tracking and analysis exercises for components of the health budget in Lao PDR in close collaboration with relevant government counterparts, and facilitate validation of the results with selected stakeholders
• Further work with relevant government counterparts to:
  • analyse, interpret and present health budget data; and
  • support use for decision-making, including optimizing existing resources e.g., prioritizing budgetary allocation to high impact interventions
• Work with Unit for Health Evidence and Policy (UHEP) within the University of Health Sciences (UHS) to strengthen link between evidence and decision making for health, particularly re: data-informed prioritization, use of cost and cost-effectiveness analyses including e.g., and health technology assessment
• Support planning, budgeting and financial gaps analyses at national, district and/or facility level, facilitate linkages to resource mobilization efforts to fill gaps and increase effectiveness of spending
• Advise internal and external stakeholders on the design and implementation of health financing and sustainability measures, including achieving cost savings and efficiencies and integrating as feasible and relevant individual
• interventions (e.g., immunization) within broader packages and reforms
• Support interventions to strengthen the use of facility level and other monitoring data during planning and budgeting processes
• Liaison and collaborate with other CHAI Laos global teams to exchange and document tools, approaches and lessons learned
• Other responsibilities as needed

• Masters in public health, health economics or related fields preferred
• At least 6 years relevant experience in health financing, experience directly supporting governments in LMICs in health financing, budgeting and evidence-based decision making strongly preferred
• Understanding of Public Financial Management (PFM) including annual budget cycles, Medium Term Expenditure Frameworks (MTEFs) and the principles of transparency and accountability, particularly health budget tracking and advocacy. Experience of e.g., payment mechanisms, pooling or prepayment, resource mobilisation, economic evaluation an asset
• Understanding of tools and frameworks for evidence-based decision making and how they can be applied and adapted in different contexts
• Strong analytical skills with experience in analyzing and interpreting budgets and using to implement health budget tracking and advocacy
• Ability to navigate complex government processes and influence decision-making in a professional and collaborative manner
• Ability to work independently and effectively in high-pressure, fast-paced environment
• Exceptional diplomatic and interpersonal skills, and ability to build strong professional relationships with a range of stakeholders in a challenging, multi-cultural environment
• High levels of proficiency in Microsoft Office, particularly Excel, PowerPoint, Word. Proficiency in one or more statistical software (R, STATA etc) preferred.
• Strong written and oral communication skills, including the ability to prepare and present compelling presentations and program planning and memo documents in English

Advantages:

• Fluency in Lao/Thai

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