Economist, Health

**Economist, Health**

**Job #**:

- req33728

**Organization**:

- World Bank

**Sector**:

- Health/Nutrition/Population

**Grade**:

- GF

**Term Duration**:

- 4 years 0 months

**Recruitment Type**:

- Local Recruitment

**Location**:

- Vienna,Austria

**Required Language(s)**:

- English

**Preferred Language(s)**:
**Closing Date**:

- 7/31/2025 (MM/DD/YYYY) at 11:59pm UTC

**Description**

The World Bank Group has set itself an ambitious goal to reach 1.5 billion people with quality, affordable health services by 2030. To reach this goal and help countries achieve Universal Health Coverage (UHC), at the global level, the focus is on three core elements: (i) expanding focus from maternal and child health to include coverage for a person’s lifetime including non-communicable diseases and long-term care; (ii) expanding operations to hard-to-reach areas, including remote villages, cities and countries, and (iii) working with governments to cut unnecessary fees and financial barriers to care.

To help ECA accelerate progress, future portfolio investments and engagements are proposed along five strategic pillars, based on regional priorities and gaps. These are - (1) Healthy Aging, (2) Health Financing, (3) Health Emergency Prevention, Preparedness and Response, (4) Climate Resilience, and (5) Digital Health. These pillars align with the broader goals of achieving UHC and are expected to address demographic transitions and enhance health systems resilience while promoting economic stability and reducing inequities.

The HNP GP unit in ECA includes staff members in Washington, DC, Vienna and many country offices. The ECA HNP Global Practice works with and across multiple sectors, in recognition of the fact that HNP outcomes often depend on actions that lie outside the HNP sector. Accordingly, a capacity to work across GP boundaries, forge coalitions and influence multi-practice solutions is essential for achieving the major objectives of improving HNP outcomes.

The Health Specialist/ Health Economist will contribute to the World Bank’s HNP portfolio and support the broader People agenda in ECA as needed, including through ongoing policy dialogue with Government counterparts and partners, assist in preparation of analytical products, and contribute to preparation and implementation of operations in the sector.

**Duties and Accountabilities**

The Health Specialist/Economist will report to the HNP Practice Manager and will be responsible for the following tasks and duties:

- Support sectoral or multi-sectoral teams in (reimbursable) business/pipeline development, program formulation, preparation and supervision of lending operations and analytical and advisory services in health and long-term care systems and services.
- Contribute to projects in a dynamic environment, and high-impact publications, including just-in-time briefs and reports to meet client demand, and new ideas to stimulate new ways of meeting long-standing challenges in Health Systems in ECA.
- Initiate innovations in HNP services and products, and support teams that incubate new services and products. Contribute towards policy dialogue with clients on complex reform issues in the health and long-term care sector.
- Provide technical contributions and thought leadership on aging and long-term care reforms, including the development of service delivery models, financing mechanisms, and workforce strategies tailored to older populations.
- Support development of innovative strategies for integrating long-term care with broader health and social protection systems, including work on healthy aging across the life course.
- Proactively take the lead on knowledge-sharing and capacity building events.

**Selection Criteria**
- Minimum of 5 years of relevant experience in Health Nutrition and Population Research and/or program implementation.
- Technical expertise desirable in the areas of Long-Term Care, Health Economics, Health Financing, Nutrition and Human Resources for Health, with an emphasis on designing and implementing policies and systems to meet the needs of aging populations.
- Familiarity with demographic trends and policy responses related to population aging in the ECA region is a strong asset.
- Experience working with demanding clients to build capacity and engage in dialogue on HNP issues and health and long-term care service delivery.
- Experience working with multiple development partners to harmonize support for Government-led programming.
- Experience in carrying out technical assistance activities designed to support the development and strengthening of HNP programs.
- Strong quantitative skills, with demonstrated experience using health, demographic, or LTC-related data to inform policy dialogue or program design.
- Proven ability to carry out independent policy-relevant research, translate theory into practice, and adapt professional knowledge and technical skills to analyze, diagnose and propose solutions to policy issues