IT Developer - National Health Product Registry (Consultant)

This will initially be a 4-month consultancy with a possibility for extension.

Background

Eswatini has made significant progress in building an integrated digital health ecosystem that supports healthcare service delivery, disease surveillance, supply chain management, and health data use for decision-making. The ecosystem is led by the Ministry of Health (MoH) through the Strategic Information Department (SID) and the Health Management Information Systems (HMIS) Unit, with support from development partners, donors, and implementing organizations. The Ministry of Health provides overall stewardship of digital health initiatives and is currently advancing the development of a National Digital Health Strategy and Roadmap to guide investments, standards, interoperability, cybersecurity, and sustainability of digital health systems. The strategy aligns with the WHO Global Strategy on Digital Health and broader national health sector priorities. Core digital health platforms in the Eswatini include:

1.     Client Management Information System (CMIS): This is the Government's national electronic medical record (EMR) platform and supports patient registration, clinical care, laboratory services, pharmacy management, and inpatient care and is operational in most hospitals, health centers, and high-volume clinics nationwide.

2.     Health Management Information System (HMIS): Serves as the national repository for health data collection, reporting, analysis, and performance monitoring and provides routine service delivery, programmatic, and population health information to policymakers and program managers.

3.     CMS Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP): Used to manage all Warehousing and distribution operations of the Central Medical Stores (CMS) to over 300 health facilities countrywide

4.     Electronic Logistics Management Information System (eLMIS): Currently functional at 106 health facilities and is used to manage all facility level commodity inventory management as well as ordering and reporting to the central medical stores.

5.     Community-Based Health Information System (CBHIS): Digitizes community health services delivered by Rural Health Motivators (RHMs) and enables real-time household-level data collection, referrals, and follow-up using mobile devices, even in offline environments. This is currently integrated with national systems including CMIS and the Health Information Exchange.

Currently health products are coded variedly in all these digital systems hindering data triangulation, interoperability and end to end visibility

The America First Global Health Strategy Project implemented by Management Sciences for Health (AFGHS-MSH), supports the Ministry of Health (MoH) in Eswatini to ensure uninterrupted availability of essential medicines and health supplies across public and private health facilities. Under its mandate, MSH integrates six key components including: Institutionalize National Quantification (Forecasting and Supply Planning) Processes, strengthening end to end supply chain visibility, maintaining commodity availability, development of a supply chain transition road map, Strengthening government supply chain capacities at national, regional and facility support

As part of AFGHS-MSH project end-to-end visibility support component, MSH collaborates with the Ministry of Health to strengthen health product identification and traceability within the national health supply chain. A critical enabler for this integration is the establishment of a National Health Product Registry (NHPR), which provides a standardized nomenclature and governance framework for all health products that will need to be used by all national digital health systems. The MoH and the Medicines regulatory Authority (MRA) intends to initiate this process using the Product Catalogue Management Tool (PCMT), based on Akeneo (open-source Product Information Management tool (PIM) or similar available open-source tool, to manage master product data of all Essential Medicines and Health technologies.

To support the development of the National Health Product Registry and its planned interoperability with other health information systems, MSH seeks to engage a consultant to provide IT development and advisory services to the Ministry of Health in Eswatini. The consultant will support the configuration and customization of the Product Catalogue Management Tool (PCMT), based on Akeneo, an open-source Product Information Management (PIM) platform, or a similar open-source solution, for the establishment and operationalization of a national health product registry.

Principal Duties and Responsibilities:

• Participate in discussions aimed at gaining consensus on the definition of NHPR technical architecture and interoperability standards.
• Configure, deploy, the National Health Product Registry I.e. Product Catalogue Management Tool with updated health product technical specifications aligned with international classification of diseases (ICD).
• Support upload and validation of Health products Master Product List aligned with GS1 standards.
• Publish the Product Catalogue Management Tool API for EMSA/CMS, eLMIS and CMIS.
• Validate integration mechanisms with CMS/EMSA ERP, eLMIS, CMIS, HMIS and CBHIS (REST API, data model compatibility) to ensure interoperability and performance of NHPR.
• Prepare technical documentation and demos.
• Provide regular updates on NHPR development updates to key stakeholders including MoH, USG and MSH
• Ensure compliance with DoS and Eswatini regulatory requirements.

Level of Effort and Location

This position will be based in Eswatini with frequent local travels. Remote work may also be considered for a duration of the assignment

QUALIFICATIONS

Qualifications, skills and experience:

• Bachelor’s in computer science, Software Engineering, or related field.
• 5+ years in product registry development
• Hands experience in the configuration and customization of the Product Catalogue Management Tool (PCMT), based on Akeneo, an open-source Product Information Management (PIM) platform
• Experience with API design and documentation (RESTful APIs, OpenAPI/Swagger).
• Familiarity with HL7 FHIR and interoperability frameworks.
• Strong project management PMP or equivalent certification (preferred).
• Excellent communication skills
• Prior experience with USG-funded projects preferred.

MSH is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, status as a protected veteran, or any other protected category under applicable federal, state, and local laws. MSH complies with Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act, Section 4212 of the Vietnam Era Readjustment Assistance Act, as amended, and all related applicable regulations.

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