Background
Monitoring health inequalities is essential to achieving health equity: it is essential to know who is being left behind in order to be able to tackle existing inequalities and ensure equitable access to quality health services for all.
To support countries in monitoring health inequalities, WHO has developed a number of tools and resources, including the Health Equity Assessment Toolkit. The software application facilitates the assessment of health inequalities by making inequality data easily accessible and communicable. Disaggregated data and summary measures are visualized in a variety of interactive graphs, maps and tables. Results can be exported and saved in different formats.
The software is available in two editions:
- HEAT, the built-in database edition, which contains data from the WHO Health Equity Monitor database,
- HEAT Plus, the upload database edition, which allows users to upload and work with their own datasets.
While HEAT was developed specifically for assessing inequalities in health, HEAT Plus is designed to be fully flexible: equity assessments can be undertaken for any indicators and inequality dimensions, in any setting of interest (at global, national and subnational levels). Together, HEAT and HEAT Plus are useful tools for monitoring inequalities in health and beyond, including those related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the GPW 13 and the SDGs.
Both HEAT and HEAT Plus are available as Online and Desktop versions, in four languages (English, French, Portuguese and Spanish). All materials are publicly available at: https://www.who.int/data/gho/health-equity/assessment_toolkit
Planned timelines (subject to confirmation)
Start date: 15 October 2021 End date: 31 May 2022
Total duration: 7.5 months
Requirements - Work to be performed
Objective 1: Providing maintenance and support for HEAT and HEAT Plus including.
Output 1.1: Ensuring HEAT and HEAT Plus are running correctly,
including:
o The online versions hosted on the WHO server and shinyapps.io;
o The desktop versions available for download from the WHO
website.
· Output 1.2: Identifying and correcting
errors and bugs (preventatively, before they occur).
· Output 1.3: Fixing errors and bugs
identified by the WHO team.
· Output 1.4: Troubleshooting and debugging
issues reported by test persons/users.
· Output 1.5: Updating HEAT with the new
Health Equity Monitor database (online and desktop versions).
· Output 1.6: Finalizing the desktop
version for Mac (HEAT and HEAT Plus).
· Output 1.7: Making other changes and
improvements to the software as required.
Characteristics of the Provider
The contractor should have:
- Experience in creating complex R
Shiny applications.
- Experience in deploying R Shiny applications using Shinyapps.io, Shiny Server and Microsoft Azure.
- Experience in creating R packages.
- Experience in creating bundled, desktop-only R Shiny applications that can be used by users with no R experience.
- Experience in working with Git and GitHub.
- Experience in working with DHS shapefiles.
- Familiarity with the topic of health inequality monitoring.
- Familiarity with the calculation of summary measures of health inequality.
- Relevant work experience with WHO and/or other international organizations.
Place of assignment
Remote.
The provider can be based anywhere and will be in regular contact through the
Internet, meetings and will present findings remotely.