Health Economics Consultant
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roadmap demonstrating to International Financial Institutions (IFIs) exactly when and where economic returns and health impacts will materialize
Role description
1. Background & Objective
The Government of Ethiopia is aggressively modernizing its healthcare ecosystem, aiming for universal hospital digitalization and a paperless environment across all tiers of the health system by 2030. To achieve this, The Ministry of Health, Global fund and JSI are developing a Digital Health Data Exchange Interoperability Highway Blueprint. To ensure financial sustainability and alignment with national strategies, the project requires a local health economics expert. The consultant will translate the technical design into a pragmatic financial roadmap.
To ensure this technical blueprint is executable, financially sustainable, and attractive to international funding partners, a dedicated local Health Economics Consultant is required to translate the technical architecture into a robust 5-year phased costing plan and a 10-year World Bank-aligned Investment Case.
Primary Objective: To develop a 5-year phased and costed rollout plan aligned with Health Sector Development and Investment Plan II (HSDIP II) and Ethiopia Digital Strategy 2030, alongside a 10-year Investment Case using the World Bank Digital Health Blueprint Toolkit.
2. Specific Tasks & Deliverables
The consultant will work closely with the Ministry of Health (MOH), JSI technical team and relevant Technical Working Groups (TWGs) to perform the following tasks:
Phase 1: Inception & Alignment Review
Task 1.1: Review the draft "Interoperability Highway Design Blueprint" to understand technical components (infrastructure, applications, middleware, standards).
Task 1.2: Map technical requirements against HSDIP II priorities (e.g., primary health care strengthening, disease surveillance) and Ethiopia Digital Strategy 2030 (e.g., digital infrastructure, data governance).
Task 1.3: Gather and analyze national baseline economic and health sector metrics, including GDP per capita, inflation rates, Health System Census data (facilities by level, health workforce cadres), and current health spending per capita.
Task 1.4: Identify international funder expectations (e.g., Global Fund, World Bank, Gavi, CDC) regarding co-financing, counterpart budgets, and sustainability indicators.
Deliverable 1: Inception Report (5-10 pages) including alignment matrix and data gaps.
Phase 2: 5-Year Phased & Costed Rollout Plan
Task 2.1: Deconstruct the blueprint into logical phases
Task 2.2: Develop a dynamic, itemized financial model covering:
Capital expenditures (CAPEX) (servers, gateways, software licenses).
Operational expenditures (OPEX) (hosting, maintenance, helpdesk).
Human resources (developers, interoperability analysts, trainers).
Structure the model to reflect a phased rollout across Ethiopia's three-tier health system (Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary levels), including grassroots Health Extension Packages (HEWs) at the Kebele level
Incorporate cost-estimation variables unique to the Ethiopian context, such as localized infrastructure deficits, regional electricity/connectivity variations, and capacity retention costs.
Change management & capacity building.
Task 2.3: Create a phased timeline showing year-by-year rollout activities (Years 1-5) and corresponding budget envelopes.
Task 2.4: Validate costs using local market rates (Ethiopian Birr) and inflation assumptions.
Deliverable 2: "5-Year Phased Costed Rollout Plan" Excel financial model + narrative report (15-20 pages).
Phase 3: 10-Year Investment Case
Task 3.1: Unbundle and utilize Costing and Investment Rationale materials from the World Bank Digital Health Blueprint Toolkit.
Task 3.2: Populate and customize the official World Bank Investment Rationale Spreadsheet (XLS) tool for Ethiopia.
Task 3.3: Conduct economic analysis (cost-benefit or cost-effectiveness) for interoperability:
Costs:
Total 10-year lifecycle cost (including expansion & eventual replacement).
Benefits:
Quantified savings (reduced redundant data entry, improved supply chain efficiency, reduced patient travel for records).
Intangible benefits:
Expected health outcome improvements (utilizing local Burden of Disease and IHME metrics) and Improved data visibility for epidemic response.
Task 3.4: Model multiple funding scenarios:
Base case:
Government + donors.
Optimistic:
Additional private sector/PPP.
Pessimistic:
Flat-lined health budget.
Task 3.5: Formulate a 10-year resource allocation roadmap demonstrating to International Financial Institutions (IFIs) exactly when and where economic returns and health impacts will materialize.
Task 3.6: Align financial indicators with International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) and donor reporting templates (e.g., Global Fund’s PU/DR, World Bank’s OPCS).
Deliverable 3: "10-Year Investment Case" Summary deck (10 slides) + detailed report (20-25 pages) compliant with World Bank Digital Health Blueprint Toolkit.
Phase 4: Validation & Finalization
Task 4.1: Present draft deliverables to the Ministry of Health, Digital Health Technical Working Group, and potential funders.
Task 4.2: Revise based on feedback regarding fiscal space (Ministry of Finance) and technical feasibility (IT team).
Task 4.3: Produce a one-page executive summary for high-level advocacy (Minister, State Minister, development partners).
Deliverable 4: Final consolidated report (including all 3 deliverables above) + presentation slide deck.
3. Alignment Requirements
The consultant must explicitly ensure that:
The 5-year rollout plan does not duplicate investments already committed under HSDIP II (e.g., existing electronic medical record scale-up).
The 10-year investment case references Ethiopia’s Digital Health Monitoring & Evaluation framework.
Costing uses Ethiopia-specific salary scales (Civil Service rates), utility costs (Ethiopian Electric Power), and infrastructure leasing rates (Ethio Telecom).
4. Timeline & Level of Effort (LoE)
Activity
Duration (Weeks)
Inception & Alignment
1
5-Year Phased Costed Plan
2 and 1/2
10-Year Investment Case (WB Toolkit)
1and 1/2
Validation & Finalization
1
Total
6 weeks (estimated 35 working days)
5. Key Interfaces
Primary counterpart: JSI project team, MoH team.
Technical reference group: Global Fund, World Bank Digital Health team (remote guidance on toolkit).
Approval authority: MoH.
6. Acceptance Criteria
Deliverables will be accepted when:
The 5-year plan is disaggregated by phase (Level 1-3 of interoperability) and by budget category (CAPEX/OPEX/HR).
The 10-year Investment Case includes a completed World Bank Investment Rationale tool (Excel-based) with Ethiopian data.
Both documents explicitly reference HSDIP II page/paragraph numbers and Ethiopia Digital Strategy 2030 targets.
Master’s degree in Health Economics, Public Financial Management, or Health Informatics.
Minimum 7 years experience in health financing in Ethiopia.
Proven experience with World Bank/Global Fund/Gavi investment cases.
Working knowledge of DHIS2, OpenHIE, or interoperability architecture (to understand what is being costed).
Fluency in Amharic and English (reports in English; stakeholder meetings may require Amharic).
Skills (mandatory):
Communication
Apply Now!
The Government of Ethiopia is aggressively modernizing its healthcare ecosystem, aiming for universal hospital digitalization and a paperless environment across all tiers of the health system by 2030. To achieve this, The Ministry of Health, Global fund and JSI are developing a Digital Health Data Exchange Interoperability Highway Blueprint. To ensure financial sustainability and alignment with national strategies, the project requires a local health economics expert. The consultant will translate the technical design into a pragmatic financial roadmap.
To ensure this technical blueprint is executable, financially sustainable, and attractive to international funding partners, a dedicated local Health Economics Consultant is required to translate the technical architecture into a robust 5-year phased costing plan and a 10-year World Bank-aligned Investment Case.
Primary Objective: To develop a 5-year phased and costed rollout plan aligned with Health Sector Development and Investment Plan II (HSDIP II) and Ethiopia Digital Strategy 2030, alongside a 10-year Investment Case using the World Bank Digital Health Blueprint Toolkit.
2. Specific Tasks & Deliverables
The consultant will work closely with the Ministry of Health (MOH), JSI technical team and relevant Technical Working Groups (TWGs) to perform the following tasks:
Phase 1: Inception & Alignment Review
Task 1.1: Review the draft "Interoperability Highway Design Blueprint" to understand technical components (infrastructure, applications, middleware, standards).
Task 1.2: Map technical requirements against HSDIP II priorities (e.g., primary health care strengthening, disease surveillance) and Ethiopia Digital Strategy 2030 (e.g., digital infrastructure, data governance).
Task 1.3: Gather and analyze national baseline economic and health sector metrics, including GDP per capita, inflation rates, Health System Census data (facilities by level, health workforce cadres), and current health spending per capita.
Task 1.4: Identify international funder expectations (e.g., Global Fund, World Bank, Gavi, CDC) regarding co-financing, counterpart budgets, and sustainability indicators.
Deliverable 1: Inception Report (5-10 pages) including alignment matrix and data gaps.
Phase 2: 5-Year Phased & Costed Rollout Plan
Task 2.1: Deconstruct the blueprint into logical phases
Task 2.2: Develop a dynamic, itemized financial model covering:
Capital expenditures (CAPEX) (servers, gateways, software licenses).
Operational expenditures (OPEX) (hosting, maintenance, helpdesk).
Human resources (developers, interoperability analysts, trainers).
Structure the model to reflect a phased rollout across Ethiopia's three-tier health system (Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary levels), including grassroots Health Extension Packages (HEWs) at the Kebele level
Incorporate cost-estimation variables unique to the Ethiopian context, such as localized infrastructure deficits, regional electricity/connectivity variations, and capacity retention costs.
Change management & capacity building.
Task 2.3: Create a phased timeline showing year-by-year rollout activities (Years 1-5) and corresponding budget envelopes.
Task 2.4: Validate costs using local market rates (Ethiopian Birr) and inflation assumptions.
Deliverable 2: "5-Year Phased Costed Rollout Plan" Excel financial model + narrative report (15-20 pages).
Phase 3: 10-Year Investment Case
Task 3.1: Unbundle and utilize Costing and Investment Rationale materials from the World Bank Digital Health Blueprint Toolkit.
Task 3.2: Populate and customize the official World Bank Investment Rationale Spreadsheet (XLS) tool for Ethiopia.
Task 3.3: Conduct economic analysis (cost-benefit or cost-effectiveness) for interoperability:
Costs:
Total 10-year lifecycle cost (including expansion & eventual replacement).
Benefits:
Quantified savings (reduced redundant data entry, improved supply chain efficiency, reduced patient travel for records).
Intangible benefits:
Expected health outcome improvements (utilizing local Burden of Disease and IHME metrics) and Improved data visibility for epidemic response.
Task 3.4: Model multiple funding scenarios:
Base case:
Government + donors.
Optimistic:
Additional private sector/PPP.
Pessimistic:
Flat-lined health budget.
Task 3.5: Formulate a 10-year resource allocation roadmap demonstrating to International Financial Institutions (IFIs) exactly when and where economic returns and health impacts will materialize.
Task 3.6: Align financial indicators with International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) and donor reporting templates (e.g., Global Fund’s PU/DR, World Bank’s OPCS).
Deliverable 3: "10-Year Investment Case" Summary deck (10 slides) + detailed report (20-25 pages) compliant with World Bank Digital Health Blueprint Toolkit.
Phase 4: Validation & Finalization
Task 4.1: Present draft deliverables to the Ministry of Health, Digital Health Technical Working Group, and potential funders.
Task 4.2: Revise based on feedback regarding fiscal space (Ministry of Finance) and technical feasibility (IT team).
Task 4.3: Produce a one-page executive summary for high-level advocacy (Minister, State Minister, development partners).
Deliverable 4: Final consolidated report (including all 3 deliverables above) + presentation slide deck.
3. Alignment Requirements
The consultant must explicitly ensure that:
The 5-year rollout plan does not duplicate investments already committed under HSDIP II (e.g., existing electronic medical record scale-up).
The 10-year investment case references Ethiopia’s Digital Health Monitoring & Evaluation framework.
Costing uses Ethiopia-specific salary scales (Civil Service rates), utility costs (Ethiopian Electric Power), and infrastructure leasing rates (Ethio Telecom).
4. Timeline & Level of Effort (LoE)
Activity
Duration (Weeks)
Inception & Alignment
1
5-Year Phased Costed Plan
2 and 1/2
10-Year Investment Case (WB Toolkit)
1and 1/2
Validation & Finalization
1
Total
6 weeks (estimated 35 working days)
5. Key Interfaces
Primary counterpart: JSI project team, MoH team.
Technical reference group: Global Fund, World Bank Digital Health team (remote guidance on toolkit).
Approval authority: MoH.
6. Acceptance Criteria
Deliverables will be accepted when:
The 5-year plan is disaggregated by phase (Level 1-3 of interoperability) and by budget category (CAPEX/OPEX/HR).
The 10-year Investment Case includes a completed World Bank Investment Rationale tool (Excel-based) with Ethiopian data.
Both documents explicitly reference HSDIP II page/paragraph numbers and Ethiopia Digital Strategy 2030 targets.
Master’s degree in Health Economics, Public Financial Management, or Health Informatics.
Minimum 7 years experience in health financing in Ethiopia.
Proven experience with World Bank/Global Fund/Gavi investment cases.
Working knowledge of DHIS2, OpenHIE, or interoperability architecture (to understand what is being costed).
Fluency in Amharic and English (reports in English; stakeholder meetings may require Amharic).
Skills (mandatory):
Communication
Apply Now!