Consultant Roster - Data and Digital Health Specialist

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Qualifications

       Purpose of consultancy

To enhance  the capacity of the Data  and Digital Health (DDH) programme and support its work, a roster of qualified specialists/consultants in data and digital health is being established. This roster will feature a diverse group of specialists, in terms of technical domain, regional representation, gender balance and experience. In this context, data and digital health is taken to include all areas of strategy, policy, research and governance for digital health, development of digital public infrastructure and national digital health (enterprise) architectures, telehealth (including telemedicine), digital health literacy, cybersecurity, health data standards and interoperability and legislation for digital health applied across various health contexts including health systems and care delivery, health promotion and disease prevention, health information systems and public health.

       Background  

The strengthening of Digital Health is a priority area of focus identified in the European Programme of Work (EPW).The unit of the Data and Digital Health (DDH) of the Division of Country Health Policies and Systems (CPS) at the WHO Regional Office for Europe (WHO Europe) coordinates the digital health flagship and provides technical and policy guidance and expertise on the safety and efficacy of digital health solutions; and preserving health equity, gender equality, equity and human rights as core values in their deployment. Through its work it will support countries to leverage the use of digital technologies for improving the interface between people and health services; for improving health system performance; and for strengthening critical public health functions including disease surveillance, early warning, and risk assessment. The DDH unit also provides strategic direction, technical assistance, and tailored support to countries to strengthen their capacity to be able to generate timely, credible, reliable, and actionable data. The unit seeks to develop new approaches and methodologies for the use of new digital technologies in healthcare such as telemedicine and the use of big data to complement traditional methods for timely measurement and monitoring of health status and health system performance. The main priorities for the DDH unit are articulated in the Regional digital health action plan for the WHO European Region 2023–2030 (RC72).  

Deliverables

Experts in the data and digital health (DDH) roster will work with WHO Europe technical units, country offices and partners to support the development of DDH products and initiatives. They will provide consultancy to strengthen all areas relevant to & impacting the implementation of DDH at national level for countries of the WHO European Region. This incorporates knowledge of a range of socio-political, technical and operational areas of DDH, such as:

·         Digital health strategy, policy, governance, legislation, regulation, financing and reimbursement;

·      Digital health service access and delivery including all relevant software applications and their procurement and/or ongoing development and maintenance;

·         Telehealth (including telemedicine);

·         Cybersecurity;

·         Digital health literacy;

·         Emerging trends and innovation in digital health;

·      The application of standards and data quality measures to facilitate national and cross-border interoperability and sharing of data for health, including privacy and security of such data, and including the context of national efforts to implement requirements for the European Health Data Space (EHDS);

·         Digital health networks & computing architectures;

·         Research, ethics, gender, equity and human rights applied to digital health and the digital determinants of health;

·       Digital technologies applied to the monitoring and improvement of public and population health including Geographic Information Systems (GIS), infodemic management tools, health security and emergency preparedness, climate change and health, healthy ageing, noncommunicable diseases including mental health and the broader development of regional and global digital public health goods.

In achieving the scope of work outlined in the objectives above, the consultant will deliver a portfolio with the following products and activities tailored on a case-by-case basis to the scope and nature of expertise required to meet an individual request for support made by the DDH programme:

a)     Provide assistance to the DDH Programme and WHO Country Offices on strengthening DDH strategy and governance in countries, including: 

-          Support the development of policies and guidelines related to the equitable use of DDH in alignment with WHO's overarching strategic and programmatic objectives;

-          Conduct digital health assessments that evaluate existing and proposed strategy/policy/action-plans and governance along with situational analyses and baseline evaluation of digital health implementations as per the methodologies of the WHO-ITU National eHealth Strategy Toolk, WHO Recommendations on digital interventions for health system strengthening and the Digital Implementation Investment Guide (DIIG): Integrating Digital Interventions into Health Programme, Support tool to strengthen health information systems, Support tool to strengthen telemedicine[1] and other relevant regional technical guidance;

-          Conduct mapping and analysis of existing and proposed governance models, along with the regulatory and legislative frameworks for DDH, including, in particular, legislation governing use and access to EHR;

-          Provide expert and specialized advice and technical leadership on attainment of programme objectives and execution options, developing concrete proposals and implementation plans;

-          Develop and integrate contributions from across the organization for strengthening health systems and public health in Member States through the implementation of appropriate digital technologies;

-          Conduct research and analysis on emerging trends, opportunities, and challenges in the DDH field  to inform policy development;

-          Establish mechanisms for monitoring the implementation of DDH policies and assessing their impact on health outcomes, equity, and human rights;

-          Evaluate policy effectiveness and recommend adjustments or revisions according to emerging evidence and best practices;

-         Contribute to the dissemination of knowledge and good DDH practices through publications, presentations, and knowledge-sharing platforms.

b)    Provide technical guidance and support related to the development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of DDH services and applications and their integration into existing national health system and public health environments, including: 

-     provide internationally recommended good practices related to development, implementation and functioning of DDH services and applications, including Electronic Medical/Health Records, ePrescription/eReferral/eAppointmentBooking/eVaccination systems, Clinical data registries & Clinical Decision Support Systems, Remote care and monitoring (Telemedicine/Telehealth), cybersecurity etc. as well as information on appropriate health data standards, and privacy and security measures in the context of operating these databases and applications.

-          provide implementation support and guidance in countries to ensure success and scale-up of digital health and data integration activities;

-      provide guidance to countries on the development of regulatory and legislative frameworks supporting digital health that enshrine gender, equity and human rights.

-          provide support to improve national capacity for DDH monitoring and evaluation and  adoption of quality and evaluation frameworks to assess safety and effectiveness;

-       provide technical recommendations and contribute to the publication and dissemination of regional and national DDH guidance and information products;

-          develop robust evaluation guidelines and increase digital health literacy;

-          ensure sustainable financing and collaboration;

-          address interoperability and standardize health data;