PAHO Consultant - Regional eMCCD Implementation, Digital Health Interoperability and ICD-11 Technical Cooperation

OBJECTIVE OF THE OFFICE/DEPARTMENT

This is a requisition for employment at the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO)/Regional Office of the World Health Organization (WHO)

Contractual Agreement:

Non-Staff - International PAHO Consultant

Job Posting:

September 11, 2026

Closing Date:

September 21, 2026, 11:59 PM Eastern Time

Primary Location:

Off Site

Organization:

EIH Evidence and Intelligence for Action in Health

Schedule:

Part time

PURPOSE OF CONSULTANCY

Background

The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) supports Member States in strengthening mortality information systems and advancing implementation of the International Classification of Diseases, 11th Revision (ICD-11), through digital transformation, interoperability, capacity building and regional technical cooperation.

As part of this work, PAHO is developing a regional electronic Medical Certificate of Cause of Death (eMCCD) application to support standardized, interoperable and high-quality mortality reporting. The application integrates international health information standards, including HL7 FHIR and the WHO ICD-11 API, within a modular architecture designed to facilitate implementation and adaptation across countries in the Region of the Americas.

The initiative includes development of a regional white-label eMCCD solution, country proofs of concept and implementation activities, interoperability with national health information and mortality coding systems, and development of approaches to improve the quality of medical certification of cause of death.

PAHO is also exploring the incorporation of AI-enabled clinical decision support within the eMCCD to assist physicians during completion of the Medical Certificate of Cause of Death, including approaches to improve the quality, completeness and consistency of medical certification.

In parallel, PAHO provides technical cooperation to Member States for ICD-11 readiness and implementation, including institutional and hospital-level maturity assessment, interoperability and terminology services, capacity building, technical training and implementation guidance.

PAHO requires specialized technical expertise to support these interrelated areas of work.

Purpose of the Consultancy

The purpose of the consultancy is to provide specialized technical expertise to support the development, implementation and regional scaling of the eMCCD initiative and related ICD-11 implementation, interoperability, terminology and digital health activities in Member States.

The consultant will work closely with PAHO technical teams, software development resources, Member States and relevant partners. The consultant will provide technical leadership, specifications, implementation support and coordination rather than being solely responsible for software development.

DESCRIPTION OF DUTIES:

Responsabilities

Under the supervision of the Regional Advisor, Digital Health and Information Systems, the consultant will undertake the following activities:

1. Regional eMCCD Development and Implementation

• Provide specialized technical support for the development, testing and implementation of the regional eMCCD solution.

• Support definition and refinement of functional and technical requirements for the regional application.

• Provide technical guidance related to information models, workflows, business and validation rules, terminology requirements and interoperability.

• Support the use of HL7 FHIR and other relevant health information standards within the regional eMCCD architecture.

• Support alignment and interoperability with the WHO ICD-11 API and relevant WHO digital mortality standards and specifications.

• Support interoperability with national health information systems and mortality coding solutions.

• Support development of technical specifications, implementation guidance, testing approaches and conformance requirements.

• Support preparation, implementation and evaluation of eMCCD proofs of concept and pilot implementations in participating Member States.

• Document implementation experience, technical findings and recommendations for regional scale-up.

These responsibilities consolidate the eMCCD pilot, implementation and interoperability functions defined in the existing technical TOR.

2. AI-enabled Decision Support for Medical Certification of Cause of Death

• Support development of the functional and technical concept for AI-enabled clinical decision support within the regional eMCCD application.

• Identify and define priority use cases to assist physicians during completion of the Medical Certificate of Cause of Death.

• Develop recommendations for improving the quality, completeness and consistency of medical certification through digital and AI-enabled decision-support approaches.

• Define relevant technical, architectural, interoperability, terminology and governance considerations.

• Support alignment of the AI-enabled functionality with ICD-11 concepts and relevant clinical terminologies.

• Contribute to development of a roadmap for progressive development, testing and implementation of AI-enabled decision support within the eMCCD ecosystem.

The current technical workplan already defines this component as development of the functional/technical concept, priority use cases and a progressive implementation roadmap rather than full independent development of an AI system.

3. ICD-11 Implementation and Interoperability

• Provide specialized technical cooperation to Member States related to ICD-11 readiness and implementation.

• Support integration and use of the WHO ICD-11 API within national and regional digital health solutions.

• Provide technical guidance related to semantic interoperability, clinical terminologies, health information standards and digital health architecture.

• Support development of technical guidance and implementation materials related to ICD-11.

• Review and contribute to the Spanish-language ICD-11 API course.

• Support implementation of the course through the PAHO Virtual Campus, including technical sessions and guidance to participants as appropriate.

• Contribute to other regional ICD-11 capacity-building and implementation activities.

The API course and related capacity-building activities are part of the existing scope.

4. ICD-11 Hospital Maturity Assessment and Country Implementation

• Support implementation and further refinement of the ICD-11 Hospital Maturity Assessment Model.

• Provide technical guidance during institutional assessments and preparation of recommendations.

• Support selected Member States in assessing institutional readiness for ICD-11 implementation.

• Support development of practical implementation guidance for hospitals and other health facilities transitioning to ICD-11.

• Contribute to country-level readiness, implementation planning and follow-up technical cooperation.

The current TOR provides for application of the Hospital Maturity Assessment in one or two Member States together with broader ICD-11 technical guidance.

5. Regional Technical Cooperation and Documentation

• Participate in technical consultations and coordination with PAHO/WHO teams, Member States and relevant partners.

• Participate in regional and country-level technical meetings, workshops and implementation activities as required.

• Prepare technical specifications, guidance documents, reports, recommendations and other knowledge products arising from the consultancy.

• Document lessons learned and technical recommendations to support replication and regional scale-up.

• Support knowledge exchange among participating countries.

Consultant Profile

Education

• Essential: Advanced university degree in Biomedical Informatics, Digital Health, Computer Science, Health Information Systems, Medicine, Public Health, Engineering, or another discipline directly relevant to the technical functions of the consultancy.

Experience

• Essential:

• Minimum of 9 years of relevant professional experience in digital health, biomedical informatics, health information systems, health data standards or related technical fields.

• Demonstrated professional experience supporting ICD-11 implementation.

• Proven professional experience with HL7 FHIR and semantic interoperability.

• Showed experience with clinical terminologies, classifications and health information standards.

• Experience in design, development, implementation or technical assessment of interoperable digital health solutions.

• Experience providing technical cooperation or implementation support to ministries of health, health authorities, health care institutions or other health-sector organizations.

• Experience developing technical specifications, implementation guidance or other specialized technical documentation.

• Experience developing and delivering specialized technical training.

• Experience supporting digital health implementation in Member States or comparable national health-system environments.

Desirable:

• Experience with mortality information systems, Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS), medical certification of cause of death and/or electronic Medical Certificates of Cause of Death.

• Experience integrating or implementing the WHO ICD-11 API.

• Experience developing or implementing HL7 FHIR profiles, Implementation Guides, terminology bindings, validation or conformance testing.

• Experience with digital public goods, reusable digital health solutions or open digital health architectures.

• Experience with clinical decision-support systems, artificial intelligence or related emerging technologies in health.

• Previous experience with PAHO, WHO, other United Nations agencies or international health organizations.

The technical threshold intentionally retains the core requirements of the existing TOR, which requires ICD-11 implementation experience, semantic interoperability/FHIR, clinical terminology and standards experience, technical training and country implementation experience.

Skills

• Advanced technical knowledge of digital health architecture and interoperability.

• Strong knowledge of ICD-11 and health classification and terminology systems.

• Strong knowledge of HL7 FHIR and semantic interoperability principles.

• Ability to translate clinical, public health and information requirements into technical specifications and implementation guidance.

• Ability to analyze complex health information workflows and identify appropriate technical solutions.

• Ability to work effectively with multidisciplinary teams involving public health, clinical, informatics and software-development professionals.

• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.

• Strong technical writing and communication skills.

• Ability to work independently and manage multiple technical workstreams and deliverables.

• Ability to collaborate effectively in multicultural and multidisciplinary environments.

Languages

• Essential: Very good knowledge of English and Spanish, both written and spoken.

• Desirable: Knowledge of Portuguese.

Daily Payrate

Depending on deliverables, daily rates can vary from $258 to $314 USD.

Duration

The consultancy is expected to last from 16 October 2026 to 30 June 2027.

The assignment is part-time, with an estimated level of effort equivalent to approximately 60% FTE over the contract period.

The work will be organized around agreed technical deliverables and milestones established in the detailed consultancy workplan. The distribution of effort may vary during the contract period according to country implementation schedules, technical development milestones and other agreed priorities.

Supervision

Regional Advisor, Digital Health and Information Systems (EIH/IS).

International travel may be required according to the needs of country implementation and technical cooperation activities, subject to PAHO approval and availability of funds.

The consultant will collaborate with relevant PAHO/WHO technical teams, software development resources, Member States and external technical partners involved in the Regional eMCCD and ICD-11 initiatives.

Contract Type: International PAHO Consultant - Non-Staff (Band B)

Duty Station: Remote (Off-site)

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

• This vacancy notice may be used to identify candidates for other similar consultancies at the same level.
• Successful candidates will be placed on the roster and subsequently may be selected for consultancy assignments falling in this area of work or for similar requirements/tasks/deliverables. Inclusion in the Roster does not guarantee selection for a consultant contract. There is no commitment on either side.
• Only candidates under serious consideration will be contacted.
• All applicants are required to complete an on-line profile to be considered for this consultancy. For assessment of your application, please ensure that your profile in the PAHO Career page is updated; all experience records are entered with elaboration on tasks performed at the time. Kindly note that CV/PHFs inserted via LinkedIn are no accessible.
• A written test may be used as a form of screening.
• If your candidature is retained for interview, you will be required to provide, in advance, a scanned copy of the degree(s)/diploma(s)/certificate(s) required for this position. PAHO/WHO only considers higher educational qualifications obtained from an institution accredited/recognized in the World Higher Education Database (WHED), a list updated by the International Association of Universities (IAU)/United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The list can be accessed through the link: http://www.whed.net/. PAHO will also use the databases of the Council for Higher Education Accreditation http://www.chea.org/search/default.asp and College Navigator, found on the website of the National Centre for Educational Statistics, https://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator to support the validation process. Some professional certificates may not appear in the WHED and will require individual review.
• Any appointment/extension of appointment is subject to PAHO/WHO Regulations, and e-Manual.
• For information on PAHO please visit: http://www.paho.org
• PAHO/WHO is committed to providing a respectful and supportive workplace for all personnel .
• PAHO is an ethical organization that maintains high standards of integrity and accountability. People joining PAHO are required to maintain these standards both in their professional work and personal activities.
• PAHO also promotes a work environment that is free from harassment, sexual harassment, discrimination, and other types of abusive behavior. PAHO conducts background checks and will not hire anyone who has a substantiated history of abusive conduct.
• PAHO personnel interact frequently with people in the communities we serve. To protect these people, PAHO has zero tolerance for sexual exploitation and abuse. People who commit serious wrongdoings will be terminated and may also face criminal prosecution.
• PAHO/WHO has a smoke-free environment and does not recruit smokers or users of any form of tobacco.
• Applications from women and from nationals of non and underrepresented Member States are particularly encouraged.
• Consultants shall perform the work as independent contractors in a personal capacity, and not as a representative of any entity or authority. The execution of the work under a consultant contract does not create an employer/employee relationship between PAHO and the Consultant.
• PAHO/WHO shall have no responsibility whatsoever for any taxes, duties, social security contributions or other contributions payable by the Consultant. The Consultant shall be solely responsible for withholding and paying any taxes, duties, social security contributions and any other contributions which are applicable to the Consultant in each location/jurisdiction in which the work hereunder is performed, and the Consultant shall not be entitled to any reimbursement thereof by PAHO/WHO.