WHO: Consultant – Maternal Health Commodities

The Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health and Ageing (MCA) Department at WHO HQ aligns with the goals and targets related to maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health as set out in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health to support the achievement of WHO’s 13th General Programme of Work. The Department works closely with other technical units in HQ, WHO regional and country offices and partners to: 

1. Generate and synthesize evidence and define norms and standards for maternal, new-born, child and adolescent health.
2. Support the adoption of evidence-based policies and multisectoral strategies for better health, through strengthening health systems and delivery of high-quality services towards universal access to people-centred health care.
3. Monitor and evaluate progress towards implementation of evidence-based policies and strategies for ‘survive, thrive and transform’.
4. Strengthen capacity for all the above functions across WHO, countries and partners. 

Each year, almost 300,000 women die during pregnancy and childbirth, 2.6 million babies are stillborn, and 2.4 million babies die in the first month of life.  WHO/MCA has a maternal health unit which is committed to strengthening generation of evidence, development of guidelines and tools, supporting country adaptation and implementation, and monitoring and measurement for country level impact. 

WHO/MCA/MAH is in the process of developing operational guidelines and other documents to support maternal health programmes. This position will support WHO/MCA/MAH in developing and finalizing these materials in additional to building consensus with UN agencies and development partners with a focus on maternal health commodities and clinical interventions.