Rural Public Health & Health Transition Research Unit

September 22 2009

School of Public Health, 7 York Road, Parktown 2193, South Africa 
Telephone: +27 11 717 2083 (Johannesburg)   +27 13 795 5076 (Acornhoek)
Fax: +27 11 717 2084 (Johannesburg)    +27 13 795 5076 (Acornhoek)  

VACANCY FOR A HEALTH ECONOMIST

An opening exists for an energetic health economist or general applied micro-economist with interest and experience in health economics in South Africa or Sub-Saharan Africa. The focus of the work is on the role/use of cost-effectiveness and related evidence-based approaches in setting priorities for health interventions and maximising their impact. This is a Johannesburg-based position at a lecturer/senior lecturer/assistant professor level. This 3 year grant-funded position is located at the South African Medical Research Council /Wits Rural Public Health and Health Transition Research Unit at the University of the Witwatersrand School of Public Health in the Faculty of Health Sciences.

Background:
The project relates to priority setting and best buys in public health for South Africa. The project is a collaboration with the Disease Control Priorities Network (DCP-N) which is an ongoing effort to assess disease control priorities and produce evidence-based analysis and resource materials to inform health policymaking in developing countries. The DCP-N takes this as its starting point but goes beyond the recently published DCP2.(http://www.dcp2.org/main/Home.html) that was broadly focused on low- and middle-income countries and have been utilised by health and finance policymakers, international development agencies, and academic institutions. This is a collaboration between the Fogarty International Center at the US National Institutes of Health, the South Africa Medical Research Council through its Rural Public Health and Health Transition Research Unit at the School of Public Health/Faculty of Health Sciences University of Witwatersrand, Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington Seattle, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. 

The goal of the project is to develop, implement and coordinate a Secretariat for the South Africa country study that will support the development of specific evidence-based information and tools that could potentially affect positive changes in health interventions and health systems. The secretariat will work with stakeholders to develop a South Africa-specific database by engaging with top academics who have already been working on these issues and with others who will focus on assessments of cost effectiveness and financing of interventions for health system strengthening. In this era of fiscal restraint there is a need to better understand how to use resources more effectively

Responsibilities: 
The current opening is for a versatile micro-economist or health economist who can both provide statistical and economic analysis support to the DCP SA study team and take leadership on individual studies.  Initial responsibilities will include substantial technical involvement in studies of the costs and cost-effectiveness of different priority interventions and how they articulate with health systems in South Africa.

Requirements:

• Doctoral degree in economics or a related field (e.g. public health, public policy). Masters degree candidates with a medical degree and at least 3 years experience will also be considered.
• Broad technical competence in economic and statistical analysis.
• Experience in carrying out applied priority setting research in South Africa or other middle income settings
• A demonstrated ability to develop and implement new projects.
• Demonstrated leadership potential, resourcefulness, and intellectual creativity.

Remuneration: Highly competitive salary dependent on qualifications, experience and level of appointment. Package can include Provident Fund, Medical Aid and thirteenth cheque.  Appointment initially for two years, contract renewable.

Enquiries: Interested applicants may obtain more detailed information from Karen Hofman: hofmank@mail.nih.gov or phone 011-717-2803 or Stephen Tollman: Stephen.Tollman@wits.ac.za or phone 011-717 2606

To Apply: Interested candidates should send letter, CV, and writing sample and contact information of three references by e-mail to Adele Taljaard at ataljaard@witshealth.co.za.