ABOUT AFRICAN CONSTITUENCY BUREAU FOR THE GLOBAL FUND (ACB)
The Global Fund to fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM) has two constituencies representing Africa namely the Eastern and Southern African (ESA) and West and Central Africa (WCA) constituencies. The two constituencies took a joined-up approach in 2012 with a twofold intent: to ensure that constituency priorities are reflected in Global Fund strategy and operational plans; and to strengthen the presence, voice and contributions of the constituencies, through their delegations, in all Global Fund governance deliberations and processes. The constituencies adopted a new governance framework that amongst other things, established a joint ESA and WCA Bureau – the African Constituencies Bureau, ACB – a policy think tank that support ESA and WCA Global Fund board members, committee members and delegations. Its primary functions include ensuring effective engagement, representation and participation of African constituencies in Global Fund processes. It also seeks to enhance the capacity of the African constituencies to shape Global Fund policies and processes. The constituencies comprise a total of 47 countries.
The ACB, based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, ensures effective engagement, representation and participation of African Constituencies, ESA and WCA, in Global Fund Board processes.
Background to this Opportunity
The Global Fund, the biggest multi-lateral mechanism, is at the centre of the world’s efforts to end AIDS, TB and malaria by 2030. The fund is in the process of developing its post-2022 strategic plan. There is so much at stake for this plan given it will be the last before the 2030 goal of ending the three epidemics. It cannot be business as usual and the margin for error is therefore extremely limited.
Africa bears the largest burden of malaria and HIV with a significant share of the TB burden. As the epicenter of these epidemics, it is critical that the continent is at the forefront of developing evidence-based interventions that will turn the tide of these epidemics and engage in discussions on the Global Fund’s next strategy. This will be a huge demonstration of the continent’s ownership of global strategies towards ending the three epidemics in 2030.
In any health system, improving health service coverage and health outcomes depends on the availability, accessibility, and capacity of health workers to deliver quality services. The 2006 world health report defined health workers as “all people engaged in actions whose primary intent is to enhance health”. The health workforce plays a vital role in building the resilience of communities and accelerates progress towards universal health coverage, ending AIDS, TB and malaria and the UN Sustainable Development Goals by ensuring equitable access to quality services for prevention, diagnosis, treatment and care within strengthened health systems. The “World Health Organization Global strategy on human resources for health (HRH): workforce 2020” outline key principles for HRH policy, advocacy, analysis, planning, governance and data management. Countries are required to:
Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries supported by the Global Fund face HRH challenges including shortages and inequitable distribution of health workforce, high turnover, inadequate education and training, poor working conditions, lack of reliable health workforce data to support effective planning and management, migration of qualified health workers, inadequate remuneration and incentives, maldistribution of the available health workers, underinvestment in the production of sufficient health workers and low implementation of most of the existing national plans.
In some countries, the shortage is so severe as to constitute a crisis in the health sector and a major bottleneck in tackling the three diseases. The inability to meet the HRH creates a gap in service delivery that in turn impedes the delivery of AIDS, TB and Malaria services to an acceptable level. Of the 47 countries in the Region, 36 have critical shortage of HRH, with only about 0.8 physicians, nurses and midwives per 1000 population while the minimum acceptable density threshold is 2.3 per 1000 population set by the WHO in 2014.
In response to this HRH crisis, in 2012, the Ministers of Health of the WHO AFRO Region endorsed a Regional Roadmap for Scaling Up the Health Workforce for Improved Health Service Delivery in the African Region: 2012–2025. The roadmap provided the guideline with six strategic directions that will assist countries in developing their HRH strategic plans:
However, the capacity of many SSA countries to generate, analyze, disseminate and use Health workforce data for strategic policymaking remains inadequate. The ACB is therefore seeking to hire a consultant that will support the organization to conduct a deep dive into health workforce in Africa and provide evidence-informed guidance on how the region can be more strategic in this area.
Scope of Work
Below is the expected scope of work under this assignment:
Make evidence-informed recommendations on how the Global Fund can maximize and catalyze investments in HRH. The recommendations must address strategies, gaps, opportunities, key enablers and actions needed towards the Global Fund’s post-2022 strategy.
Deliverables:
Terms of the appointment:
The successful consultant will be expected to complete this assignment within 30 calendar days and should be willing and available to participate in a dissemination meeting with various stakeholders, including countries, technical partners and funders.
QUALIFICATIONS:
EXPERIENCE: