The Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH) is a world-leading institute in global health with a particular focus on low- and middle-income countries. Associated with the University of Basel, Swiss TPH combines research, services, and education and training at the local, national and international level. About 850 people from more than 80 nations work at Swiss TPH focusing on infectious and non-communicable diseases, environment, society and health as well as health systems and interventions.

The Department of Epidemiology and Public Health (EPH), within the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, is seeking a highly motivated individual with strong analytical skills to work within the Infectious Disease Modelling Unit of EPH to help design evidence-based strategic plans by providing analytical evidence and support execution of high-impact programs to ensure countries reduce their malaria burden.
Health Economist (100%)
In this position, you will lead health economic modelling to inform optimal resource allocation and prioritization of interventions against malaria by national control programs in endemic countries and by their global partners.

Malaria is one of the world's most important causes of mortality and morbidity, mainly affecting countries in low endemic areas. Over the last decade, substantial progress has been made globally in reducing malaria burden through scale-up of vector control interventions and access to diagnosis and treatment. However, funding for malaria has recently plateaued thus pushing to the forefront of the policy agenda the need to optimize allocation of resources toward interventions that maximize burden reduction subject to budget and other operational and epidemiological constraints. Improvements in the availability and quality of malaria data support use of local evidence for decision-making - an approach promoted by the World Health Organization’s High Burden to High Impact initiative. Toward this aim, the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute develops and applies epidemiological, statistical and mathematical methods to evaluate and predict malaria transmission and the impact of interventions. Model outputs directly feed into the decision-making processes by the National Malaria Control Programs (NMCPs) in endemic countries and those of global malaria partners.

Responsibilities:
• Design and implement economic modelling analyses to inform resource allocation across malaria control for preventive and curative interventions at national and sub-national levels in multiple high-burden countries. Specifically, the modelling outputs will support:
o Methodological development of costing and economic decision models.
o Strategic and operational questions on implementation of malaria control interventions at subnational level by National Malaria Control Programs
o Technical guidance on optimal malaria control strategies by the WHO’s High Burden High Impact initiative
o Strategic investment decisions by major donors, including the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the President’s Malaria Initiative as well as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
• Develop and communicate guidance regarding choice and application of relevant economic evaluation methods, including cost-effectiveness, cost-utility, cost-benefit, and budgetary impact analyses, to specific policy questions
• Develop strategies for sourcing economic inputs from programmatic documents
• Lead further development of costing models to efficiently integrate country data
• Interact with other health economists and the disease modelers to inform the interventions decision-making processes
• Lead synthesis and communication of modelling outputs to diverse policy audiences
• Disseminate findings through high-quality presentations, reports, and publications
Skills and qualifications:
Essential Skills
• PhD (preferred) in decision sciences, health economics, health services research, operations research, biostatistics, epidemiology or related quantitative discipline
• 3+ years of experience related to the above responsibilities. PhD students just finishing their studies are also welcome to apply
• Technical experience in health economic modeling
• Strong problem-solving skills and ability to improvise with a variety of quantitative approaches to solve complex problems despite unreliable data
• Experience with statistical programming packages (i.e. Stata/MATA, R)
• Ability to work independently and in teams, to adapt to new challenges and operate as part of a multi-cultural team
• Exceptional written and oral communication skills in English
Desired Skills
• Experience conducting economic evaluations in Low and Middle Income Country contexts
• Technical experience in health technology assessment
• Experience working with and communicating to government officials and other partners, including academics, donors, Ministries of Health and other relevant stakeholders
• Proven experience managing projects and coordinating technical staff
• Experience working in fast-paced, output-oriented environments

Applicants with previous expertise conducting economic evaluations of interventions targeting infectious diseases and experience with providing analytical support to health authorities are highly encouraged to apply.

Please submit your application online via the link provided below:
If you are interested, please submit your application with CV, motivational letter, reference letters and diploma, your salary expectations, names and contact information (email or phone) of 3 references.
Please note that we can only accept applications via our online recruiting tool: https://recruitingapp-2698.umantis.com/Jobs/All. Applications via e-mail or external recruiter will not be considered.
There is no closing date for application, but we encourage applicants to submit their application as soon as possible. As long as the position is published on the website of Swiss TPH it is still open.

Contact: For additional information about the position please contact Emilie Pothin (+41 61 284 87 37) or Fabrizio Tediosi (+41 61 284 87 19).

Job Profile:
Start Date: upon agreement
Location: Basel, Switzerland
Duration: limited initially for two years, with opportunities for extensions
Percentage: Full time
Travel required: on a regular base