Mid National - Health Data & Information Specialist

FED TA: Embedded Technical Support for the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulation & Coordination (M/o NHSR&C)

Program Overview

Evidence for Health (E4H) is a Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO)-funded programme aimed at strengthening Pakistan's healthcare system, thereby decreasing the burden of illness and saving lives. E4H provides technical assistance (TA) to the Federal, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), and Punjab governments, and is being implemented by Palladium along with Oxford Policy Management (OPM).

Through its flexible, embedded, and demand-driven model, E4H supports the government to achieve a resilient health system that is prepared for health emergencies, responsive to the latest evidence, and delivers equitable, quality, and efficient healthcare services. Specifically, E4H delivers TA across three outputs:

Output 1: Strengthened integrated health security, with a focus on preparing and responding to health emergencies, including pandemics.

Output 2: Strengthened evidence-based decision-making to drive health sector performance and accountability. 

Output 3: Improved implementation of Universal Health Coverage, with a focus on ending preventable deaths. 

Position Summary

The technical support aims to promote evidence-informed planning, improve data-driven policy dialogue, and institutionalize performance tracking mechanisms at both the federal and district levels.

The objective of this embedded technical support is to strengthen institutional capacity within the M/o NHSR&C to effectively monitor progress toward UHC, IHR, and other evidence for health and dissemination of information with different stakeholders, especially related to:

1. UHC Monitoring Report 2025,
2. IHR Monitoring Report 2025,
3. Health Financing & Budget Snapshot and other health financing analysis for relevant activities,
4. Human Resources for Health (HRH) Snapshot.
5. Technical support to the Health Minister, the Secretary Health, the Director General of Health, and the technical wing of the Ministry.
6. Provision of technical support as required by the M/o NHSR&C, including but not limited to queries of the PM office, Parliament, Ministry of Planning, Development and Special Initiatives (M/o PDSi), and other stakeholders.
7. To enhance district-level governance by facilitating the effective functioning of DH&PMT in the ICT and the development of Health strategy and projects to access public financing.

Scope of Work

Development of UHC Monitoring Report 2025

The UHC Monitoring Report 2025 will build on the WHO-World Bank methodology used in the previous reports, primarily using secondary data for its analysis, in collaboration with the M/o NHSR&C and HPSIU. Key activities will include:

• Desk review of global, national, and provincial/district surveys, reports, and administrative data (e.g., PDHS, MICS, data from HIS), etc.
• Data relevant to the country's UHC situation will be collected, analysed, and synthesized at the national, provincial/federating area, and district levels. This will include coordinating with national and provincial stakeholders to gather more information/data as needed.
• Develop a UHC Monitoring Report 2025 and share it with stakeholders for feedback and suggestions before finalisation.
• Development of a brochure on the UHC SCI at the national, provincial/ area, and district levels based on the final report.

Development of IHR Monitoring Report 2025

• Convene the IHR coordination stakeholders’ workshop.
• Engage and coordinate with designated IHR focal points at the National and Provincial levels and development partners to collect updated, verifiable, and disaggregated data related to progress across all 19 core capacities.
• Facilitate technical discussions to validate progress, identify implementation gaps, and document best practices and cross-sectoral contributions, particularly those reflected in the Joint External Evaluation (JEE 2023) and the NAPHS 2024–28.
• Synthesise qualitative and quantitative inputs to produce an evidence-based narrative of progress against each IHR core capacity, with attention to provincial contributions, health system linkages, and post-pandemic resilience measures.
• Draft the IHR Monitoring Report 2025 in close coordination with the relevant technical units of M/o NHSR&C and national stakeholders, ensuring alignment with WHO’s IHR monitoring and Evaluation framework.
• Finalise the IHR Monitoring Report 2025 and share with stakeholders for information.

Health Financing and Budget Snapshot and Other Financial Analysis of relevant activities

The Health Financing and Budget Snapshot shall build on the 2023 health Financing snapshot methodology and principles outlined.  Primary data will be collected through literature review, new budget, and expenditure data from the Controller General of Accounts (CGA). Key methods proposed include:

• Review Budget documents, the latest Pakistan Economic Survey, and other literature
• Collect, analyse, and synthesise the latest budget, including Budget data for 2025-26 and expenditure data for 2024-25 at the national and provincial levels from the CGA office.
• Produce a snapshot of Health Budget Analysis 2025 and share information with stakeholders.
• Provide the Ministry with further technical advice on financing issues and proactively participate in relevant activities.

HRH Snapshot

• Coordinate with national regulatory councils, provincial and area Health Departments, Healthcare Commissions, Higher Education Commission, and multi-sectoral stakeholders for the health workforce for data acquisition throughout the year.
• Compilation and analysis of workforce data and development of HRH Snapshot, presentation, and other advocacy material.
• Provide the Ministry with further technical advice on HRH-related issues and proactively participate in relevant activities.

Other Technical Support

• Technical support to the Health Minister, the Secretary Health, and the Director General of the Health Office
• Other technical support as required by the M/o NHSR&C, especially to collect and share information on queries from the PM office, Parliament, and other line ministries

DH&PMT Meetings in ICT

• Provide technical facilitation for DH&PMT meetings in ICT, its documentation, and follow-up on actions agreed upon
• Development of Islamabad Health Strategy aligned with new NHPP 2025-34

The designated staff (Deputy Directors) of the Ministry, Director Programmes, DHO ICT, and HPSIU, under the leadership of the Director General (Health) and Secretary Health, will all be actively engaged in the activities.

Responsibilities

The Health Data & Information Specialist will work to achieve the following:

1. UHC Monitoring Report 2025
2. IHR Monitoring Report
3. Budget Analysis snapshot 2025-26
4. HRH Snapshot 2025
5. Facilitate DH&PMT meetings in ICT

Timeline and Days

The level of effort (LOE) for the role is Maximum 15 days per month, from 15 June 2025 to 31 March 2026.

Requirement

Technical Expertise

• Post graduate degree preferably in public health, data science, epidemiology, demography, or a related quantitative discipline.
• Minimum of 10-15 years’ experience of working with health systems data, familiarity with national data sources (e.g., DHIS2, HMIS, Health Accounts, HRIS, etc.).
• Strong analytical and communication skills.

Competencies

• Analysis and use of information
• Working with others
• Communicating with others