Roster of Consultants - Primary Health Care, Papua New Guinea – Various Provincial Locations (Duty Station to Be Assigned)
NewWP_PNG Papua New Guinea
Closes 23 Nov 2026 CET (UTC+1)
Employers can close earlier.
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To strengthen primary health care (PHC) in an assigned province or provinces of Papua New Guinea by translating WHO PNG’s ACE approach—advocate, convene and enable—into practical, time-bound improvements in key PHC outcomes, including maternal, newborn and child health, immunization, communicable diseases and noncommunicable diseases. Working through the Provincial Health Authority (PHA), the consultant will apply a systems approach to analyse bottlenecks, advise on strategic priorities, convene communities and other sectors, provide operational support, field-test practical tools, and document results and lessons for adaptation and scale-up.
WHO and UNICEF define PHC as a whole-of-society approach that addresses people’s health needs across the continuum of care, as close as possible to where they live. PHC has three components: (i) integrated health services, with an emphasis on primary care and essential public health functions; (ii) multisectoral policy and action; and (iii) empowered people and communities. The renewed focus on PHC is a globally shared strategic direction, and partners are aligning their investments accordingly.
In Papua New Guinea, the Mid-term Review of the National Health Plan 2021–2030 identified PHC-oriented health-system reform as the most immediate priority. Further, the Joint External Evaluation of the International Health Regulations (August 2026) recommended investment in essential health service delivery and WASH to support resilient primary care at levels 1–3 and in communities. WHO is reinforcing this direction through the mid-term review of the WHO Papua New Guinea Country Cooperation Strategy 2024–2028 and by strengthening provincial technical cooperation. This support will help the National Department of Health (NDoH) and PHAs deliver essential health services through a PHC approach.
The consultant will carry out six functions:
1. Leadership and multisectoral coordination. Facilitate PHA agreement on a few costed, time-bound integrated PHC priorities. Map and align contributions of districts, programmes, churches, partners and other sectors (including but not limited to local-level governments, Ward Development Committees, education, agriculture, water and sanitation, transport, security services such as the PNG Defence Force, correctional services and police, and the private sector).
2. Operational intelligence. Triangulate routine data on maternal and child care, immunization, vaccine-preventable disease (VPD) surveillance, and priority diseases—including TB, HIV, malaria, hypertension and diabetes—with information from reports, registers and consultations with frontline health workers and communities; verify signals generated from event-based surveillance, investigate discrepancies, and map zero-dose children and underserved catchments.
3. Standards and quality. Coach PHA and district teams through one integrated supervision approach covering maternal and child care, vaccination, microplanning, cold chain, AEFI and VPD reporting, and screening, diagnosis, treatment and referral for the priority conditions, including communicable and noncommunicable diseases; agree time-bound corrective actions with clear responsibilities and verify their implementation.
4. Addressing barriers to care. Identify why people miss or drop out of care, including social and gender barriers. Investigate financing (release and use of operational funds, out-of-pocket costs), medicines and last-mile delivery, workforce, transport and referral; present feasible, affordable options to PHA leadership.
5. Implementation, community engagement and capacity. Adapt and operationalize integrated PHC interventions based on the provincial context, including integrated outreach services providing immunization to zero-dose and missed children, a defaulter follow-up tool, an integrated supervisory checklist (L1–4), and referral and medicine-stock tracking. Facilitate community planning with WDCs, village health assistants and the “triad of trust” (health worker, teacher, church leader); set up community feedback; coach PHA counterparts. Document necessary adaptations and lessons for national review and possible scale-up.
6. Performance, learning and communications. Assess agreed indicators using graphs from healthcare facilities and the PHC Dashboard; support learning between districts through learning notes and facilitated exchanges; prepare human-interest stories, photo stories, short web and social-media content and briefings for the PHA, NDoH, WHO and partners, including Gavi, subject to consent and WHO clearance.
Cross-cutting: Health emergencies (when requested). Prepare materials to support outbreak detection, community alerts, responses to diseases such as measles and polio, and continuity of essential PHC services during emergencies, in coordination with PHA, NDoH and WHO emergency leads.
Output 1 (by end of week 6): Provincial PHC baseline and 90-day action plan agreed with the PHA.
Deliverable 1.1: Baseline report (maximum 15 pages) covering the three PHC components and tracer areas: verified bottlenecks, underserved catchments including zero-dose children, operational fund flows, a stakeholder map and up to 10 indicators with baselines.
Deliverable 1.2: Costed 90-day integrated action matrix, including community and multisectoral actions, with 2–3 priority demonstration catchments identified based on need, equity, service gaps and implementation feasibility.
Output 2 (by end of month 3): Integrated improvement package in use.
Deliverable 2.1: Integrated tool set with coaching aids (outreach microplan, follow-up, referral and medicine-stock tools).
Deliverable 2.2: Community engagement and multisectoral action plans for the priority catchments, developed with WDCs, village health assistants, the triad of trust and relevant sectors.
Deliverable 2.3: Record of orientation and on-site coaching delivered to PHA counterparts, with a functioning PHA-led PHC coordination mechanism for reviewing implementation progress, resolving bottlenecks and tracking agreed actions.
Output 3 (by end of month 6): Field-tested improvements and sustainability options.
Deliverable 3.1: Field-test report demonstrating implementation of the integrated PHC improvement package in priority catchments, including integrated outreach, supportive supervision, referral and follow-up mechanisms, with verified results by tracer area against baseline, including changes in service coverage and the number of zero-dose children.
Deliverable 3.2: Options brief (maximum 4 pages) on financing and sustaining integrated PHC outreach, covering budgeting and release of operational funds and alignment of partner funds.
Deliverable 3.3: One learning note and one communication product.
Output 4 (by end of month 9): Performance review.
Deliverable 4.1: Performance review against the baseline and a second costed 90-day action matrix.
Deliverable 4.2: Note on options, costs and prerequisites for extending tested approaches to other districts.
Output 5 (final two weeks): Results, communication and handover.
Deliverable 5.1: Results and handover note: evidence of change, unresolved issues, tools and capacity transfer.
Deliverable 5.2: Dissemination package: human-interest stories and a briefing presentation for the PHA, NDoH, WHO and partners.
Essential: Advanced university degree (master’s level or above) in public health, medicine, nursing, midwifery, epidemiology, health systems, health policy, health services management or a related field.
Desirable: Postgraduate training in primary health care, immunization, maternal and child health, quality improvement, health financing, supply chain management, community engagement or monitoring and evaluation.
Essential: At least seven years of relevant professional experience in primary health care, public health or health-system improvement, including work at the subnational or decentralized level and practical work in maternal, newborn and child health, immunization or other priority PHC programmes at national and international levels. Experience producing analytical reports, implementation tools or decision briefs for government or public-health programmes.
Desirable: Experience in immunization microplanning, zero-dose approaches, community engagement or multisectoral coordination. Experience with Provincial Health Authorities or comparable decentralized health structures in Papua New Guinea or another Pacific country. Experience with WHO, another United Nations entity, or a development partner.
Essential: Strong knowledge of the WHO–UNICEF PHC framework, national and WHO guidance on immunization and maternal and child health, decentralized health systems, quality improvement, routine health information, subnational health financing and equity-focused analysis. Strong analytical, facilitation, coaching, stakeholder-engagement and concise technical-writing skills. Ability to convert policy, standards and data into practical implementation tools and time-bound management actions.
Desirable: Knowledge of Papua New Guinea’s health system, National Health Plan and PHA operating context. Ability to write clear communication products, such as human-interest stories, for non-technical audiences.
Essential: Expert knowledge of English.
On-site: Based at the assigned Provincial Health Authority office in Papua New Guinea, with regular travel to districts, health facilities and communities within the assigned province, as well as to other provinces as required.
Travel within the assigned province to districts, facilities and communities and, when approved, to Port Moresby and other provinces, subject to prior WHO authorization and security clearance.
Indicative travel: To be confirmed.
Remuneration: Band level B - USD 7,000 (monthly)
Expected duration of contract: Contract duration varies from 1 to 11 months (full time and part time) depending on programme needs.
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