Consultant Task force Maternal Health

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:
December 15, 2025

Closing Date:
December 22, 2025, 11:59 PM Eastern Time

Primary

Location:

Off Site

Organization: HSS Health Systems and Services

Schedule:

Part time

Background The primary objective of the Department of Health Systems and Services is to strengthen health systems based on Primary Health Care, support the transformation of national health systems to improve equity and resilience, strengthen Primary Health Care (PHC), and address the relevant issues related to human resources as health systems move towards the achievement of Universal Health.

Unit Background The Women’s, Maternal, Neonatal and Reproductive Health Unit within the Department of Health Systems and Services (HSS) is responsible for PAHO’s technical cooperation in the areas of women’s health, maternal, neonatal, sexual and reproductive health, as well as perinatal health information and surveillance. Its purpose is to promote, strengthen, and improve the capacities of countries in the Region of the Americas regarding health care for women, mothers, and newborns.

The goal is to eliminate mortality from preventable causes (survive), promote quality of care and better health conditions (thrive), and foster environments of care, participation, and the exercise of rights (transform). These objectives are established within the frameworks of the Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health and Resolution CD56/8 Rev.
1, adopted on September 26, 2018, during PAHO’s 56th Directing Council, as well as in the Plan of Action for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health (PoA) 2018–2030.

The actions of the new unit are aligned with three Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): reducing the maternal mortality ratio (3.1); reducing neonatal mortality (3.2); and ensuring universal access to sexual and reproductive health services (3.7), while promoting universal access to integrated primary and community health services within health networks. Additionally, it is linked to other SDGs, such as SDG 5—particularly target 5.6, which relates to universal access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights—and to ASSA 2030 (Goal
6), which focuses on strengthening health information systems to support evidence-based policy formulation and decision‑making.

Under the direct supervision of Dr. Suzanne Serruya, Unit Chief of Women, Reproductive and Neonatal health (WH), the consultant is expected to:

• Provide leadership and coordination in the implementation of the Call to Action to reduce maternal mortality, in collaboration with national and regional teams.
• Offer technical and operational support for the implementation of the Accelerated Maternal Mortality Reduction Plans in the 12 priority countries.
• Contribute to the planning, coordination, and follow‑up of the activities of the Regional Maternal Health Task Force, ensuring alignment with national priorities.
• Coordinate technical actions for the establishment of a regional monitoring model based on information gathered from the 12 countries implementing accelerated maternal mortality reduction plans.
• Define and develop the necessary technical tools to support the implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of the accelerated maternal mortality reduction plans.
• Collaborate with other PAHO units in providing technical cooperation to countries for the development and implementation of geospatial analysis initiatives related to maternal health, particularly maternal mortality.
• Support the integration of the Maternal Near Miss approach, contributing to the technical development and strengthening of national capacities for its application.
• Coordinate the technical implementation of the Maternal Near Miss monitoring module, adapted and integrated as part of the Perinatal Information System (SIP+) in participating countries.

• Preliminary report…