Health Economist Consultant at Malaria Consurtium

Malaria remains a significant global health challenge, particularly in sub- Saharan Africa. In 2022, there were an estimated 249 million malaria cases and 608,000 deaths, primarily among children under five. Furthermore, progress toward malaria elimination has slowed in recent years and new tools and strategies are needed to accelerate efforts. One recent development is the introduction of two malaria vaccines, RTS,S/AS01 and R21/Matrix-M, which the WHO has recommended for widespread use in moderate and high transmission settings. 

Currently, twelve countries have introduced malaria vaccines as part of their childhood immunization programs and Nigeria initiated malaria vaccine delivery in November 2024. Despite introduction of these vaccines, the most effective delivery method remains unclear. In many African regions malaria transmission is seasonal, and to effectively reduce malaria in these settings it is crucial to provide protection within the peak transmission season.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Health Economist Consultant

Location: Kebbi

Job Purpose

• The purpose of the assignment is to conduct a comparative cost analysis of a hybrid vaccination schedule with different delivery approaches.

Scope of Assignment

• The overall objective of this consultancy is to support MC in generating evidence to be considered for a more feasible and cost-effective model that would increase the impact of malaria vaccine deployment in resource-constrained settings. 
• This involves assessing the costs associated with implementing the hybrid malaria vaccine immunization with different delivery approaches. The key outcomes to be measured are
• Program costs (Additional costs for vaccination, promotional activities, training, logistics and infrastructure)
• Incremental cost per vaccinated child.
• Incremental cost per completed vaccination series.

This assessment would engage a range of quantitative and qualitative methods:
Program Costs:

• Vaccination costs: Additional costs related to vaccine procurement, storage, transportation, and administration, associated with the increased pre-season demand.
• Promotion costs: Costs of enhanced community promotion activities, including materials (e.g., posters, flyers), and community outreach workers.
• Training costs: Costs of training healthcare providers and community workers involved in hybrid vaccination and promotional activities.
• Logistics and infrastructure costs: Additional resources needed to implement the enhanced schedule.

The following methods will be used to measure each component:
Demand creation Costs (Pre-season Community Engagement and key messages through SMC):
Method:

• Activity-based costing: Identify and allocate costs associated with each promotional activity (e.g., printing materials, community outreach workers, media campaigns).
• Survey or key informant interviews: To capture the time spent by outreach workers on promotion activities and how much time is devoted to different communities.

Training Costs:
Method:

• Cost analysis of training sessions: Document costs related to the design and implementation of training (e.g., materials, venues, trainer salaries).
• Staff time analysis: Collect data on the number of staff attending, duration of training, and wages/salaries for estimating opportunity costs.
• Surveys or focus groups with trainers and participants: To assess the effectiveness and scope of the training.

Logistics and Infrastructure Costs:
Method:

• Health facility assessments: Conduct infrastructure assessments to document additional infrastructure needs such as cold storage or transportation expansions.
• Survey or interviews with health facility/logistics managers: Understand the specific logistical challenges and costs introduced by the hybrid schedule.

Incremental Cost per Vaccinated Child:
Method:

• Cost-per-child analysis: Divide the total program costs (vaccination, promotion, training, logistics) by the number of children vaccinated to calculate the incremental cost per vaccinated child.
• Cost comparison: Compare these costs between the hybrid schedule and the standard schedule using historical data for the standard schedule.

Incremental Cost per Completed Vaccination Series:
Method:

• Cohort analysis: Follow a cohort of children through the entire vaccination process to determine how many complete the full series of doses.
• Cost-per-series calculation: Use the total costs of vaccination and promotion and divide by the number of children who complete the full vaccination series.

Deliverables:
The successful candidate will deliver the following items:

• Protocol for cost effectiveness analysis
• Tools for data collection for cost effectiveness analysis
• A short inception report to define the scope of work, proposed timeline outlining the approach to be taken, key assumptions and trained project team members
• A PowerPoint presentation (max 25 slides slides), outlining data collection/extraction procedures of the cost analyses.
• Data collected on cost data
• All the underlying calculations used in the cost analyses in Microsoft Excel format, which can be fully modified by Project team in the future
• Data transcripts and codes
• First draft of comprehensive report with recommendations 5 days after completion of activities
• Final Consolidate Consultancy report

Key Tasks and Responsibilities

• Develop protocol for cost effectiveness analysis
• Develop costing assumptions and tools for data collection for the cost analyses
• Train data collectors
• Collect relevant costing data
• Conduct relevant stakeholders’ engagement
• Conduct cost analyses, carry out reviews and updates and produce relevant reports.

Person Specifications:

• The successful applicant will possess thorough understanding of costing approaches in the context of public health and community health. 
• They will possess significant experience of undertaking costing exercises and economic evaluations.

Essential Qualifications

• A PhD (preferred) or at a minimum Master’s level degree in economics, preferably health economics.
• Significant demonstrable experience of undertaking and overseeing costing exercises, including primary cost data collection and developing health economics models.

Experience and Knowledge:

• At least 10 years of progressive experience in collecting costing data and carrying out budget impact and cost effectiveness analysis, developed costing assumptions and tools for data collection for cost effectiveness analysis, collected routine project implementation costing data, carried out budget impact analysis, and conducted cost effectiveness analysis.
• Demonstrable track record of similar work in the past five years
• Demonstrated experience in liaising with government; and managing relationship with stakeholders and partners at health financing, budgeting, implementation science, and policy levels.
• Experience in health financing and budgeting
• Demonstrated experience in health economics.

Skills and competencies:

• Strong analytical skills.
• Strong command of Microsoft office suites (Ms Word, Ms PowerPoint, Ms Excel and Ms Project packages).
• Excellent organizational and time management skills are required.
• Ability to work both independently and as a member of a team and to handle multiple priorities is required
• Experience as a trainer and/or supervisor for quantitative and qualitative data collection, management, and/or analysis is preferred
• Excellent analytical, writing, synthesis, communication and facilitation skills.
• Experience of working with partners at international, regional and national levels.
• Proven academic experience, including pieces of research, publications and written reports
• Familiarity with the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) and malaria programs
• Proven experience in writing reports for public health programs or projects in Nigeria or similar developing country context.

Application Closing Date
16th April, 2025.

Method of Application
Interested and qualified candidates should:
Click here to apply online

Note

• Kindly note that applicants who do not follow this specification will be disqualified.
• Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.
• Kindly note that applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, and as a result, the process may conclude before the advertised deadline. Therefore, early applications are highly encouraged.
• Malaria Consortium does not accept or ask for payment during recruitment. We also would not accept hardcopy CVs; all applications should be sent through the above link.