Health Economics and Data Analytics Expert

Organizational Context

The World Health Organization (WHO), established in 1948, is the UN's specialized health agency, mandated to promote health, ensure global safety, and serve vulnerable populations. The WHO Regional Office for Africa supports Member States in strengthening health systems and advancing universal health coverage. Within this, the Health Financing and Governance Team provides technical support on health financing reforms, economics, and resource tracking. From 2026, the team will manage an expanded portfolio requiring advanced health economics and data analytics.

Job Purpose

The Health Financing and Governance Team, under the WHO Regional Office for Africa's Health Systems and Services Cluster, is dedicated to strengthening health financing systems across Member States. This is achieved through rigorous analytical work, targeted technical assistance, and robust evidence generation. From 2026, the team will implement an expanded portfolio of grants supporting multi-country interventions, which necessitates advanced health economics and data analytics capabilities. These activities significantly increase the analytical, operational, and coordination demands on the team. The Health Economics and Data Analytics UN Volunteer will play a pivotal role by providing essential analytical and technical support. This support is critical for strengthening data analysis, enhancing health financing assessments, and producing high-quality technical outputs. The ultimate purpose is to inform crucial policy dialogue and decision-making processes effectively at both regional and country levels, thereby contributing to the advancement of universal health coverage.

Responsibilities

The UN Volunteer will compile, clean, manage, and analyze quantitative datasets related to National Health Accounts and health expenditure. This includes analyzing public and private health financing flows, such as out-of-pocket spending and financial risk protection indicators. The role involves conducting descriptive, trend, cross-country, and comparative analyses specifically for the African Region. The volunteer will support health financing and health system diagnostics at both regional and country levels, and contribute to health economics analyses relevant to health financing reforms, including costing and cost-effectiveness analyses where applicable. A key duty is assisting in synthesizing economic evidence to inform health policy and financing decisions, particularly in low-resource settings. The volunteer will draft and contribute to technical reports, background papers, policy briefs, and analytical annexes, translating quantitative results into clear, policy-relevant narratives. Furthermore, the role requires preparing tables, figures, charts, and visualizations for reports and presentations, and contributing to internal technical reviews and analytical publications. Collaboration with technical officers within the Health Financing and Governance Team and the wider Health Systems and Services Cluster is essential, along with participation in meetings aligned with AFRO working hours.

Work Experience

At least 5 years of professional work experience at national or international levels in health financing, health economics, or health systems analysis is required. This includes experience working with health expenditure and financing data in low- and middle-income countries, and contributing to analytical reports, technical documents, or publications. Strong quantitative analysis skills using statistical software like Stata, R, or Python are essential, along with experience in data visualization and presenting analytical results. Familiarity with health financing resource tracking and financial risk protection metrics is also necessary.

Skills

Required competencies include accountability, adaptability, flexibility, results-orientation, communication, teamwork, professionalism, self-management, and respecting individual and cultural differences. Technical skills encompass strong quantitative analysis using statistical software (Stata, R, Python), data visualization, and presentation of analytical results. Solid computer literacy, including advanced MS Office proficiency, email/internet, and familiarity with database management, is also necessary. The role demands the ability to work effectively in challenging, multicultural environments, self-motivation, and the capacity to meet tight deadlines. Expertise areas include Economics and finance, Health, and Natural and life sciences.

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