Health Economic Evaluation of the Impact of COVID-19 in Malaysia
Purpose of this contract
The purpose of this APW is to conduct a cost-effectiveness analysis/economic evaluation of COVID-19 public health interventions. This is to provide data-driven evidence to decision makers for strategizing the interventions and financial planning of the healthcare services for COVID-19 or other infectious disease outbreaks in the future in Malaysia.
Background
The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted the national and global economy, with a high financial burden, particularly on health-care services. The domestic economy has been heavily affected by the necessary global and domestic actions taken to contain the outbreak. In a previous estimate, the Movement Control Orders implemented since last September had cost Malaysia an estimated 700 million ringgit (US$ 172.7 million) a day in lost economic output or GDP, less than the estimated 2.4 billion ringgit (US$ 592.3 million) a day when the entire country was locked down in March 2020. Since then, Malaysia has announced the National Recovery Plan and is currently in the 'Transition to Endemicity’ phase. Under this phase, many public health and social measures have been relaxed as well as the ongoing resumption of all economic sectors. As a result, as of March 2022, Bank Negara Malaysia expects the domestic economy to improve, with a growth projection of between 5.3% to 6.3%.
Since the start of the pandemic, the Malaysian Government has announced eight stimulus packages that amounted to 530 billion ringgit. Such funds have been utilised for to benefit an estimated 20 million Malaysians and 2.4 million businesses. Key initiatives have included accelerated social security payments under the existing programmes, accelerated withdrawals from the Employees' Provident Fund (EPF), extended tax relief on communication equipment and locally produced cars, expansion of the wage subsidy programme, and additional grants for micro enterprises. They have also included relaxation of the unemployment benefits eligibility criteria and extension of terms on 18 January 2021. The most recent stimulus package, Pemerkasa Plus, which came into effect on 1 June 2021, totalled 2.1 billion ringgit. Such funds were used to serve as cash aid for struggling Malaysian households.
In the health-care sector, evidence-based planning and management of COVID-19, particularly for hospital services, is important to ensure the best use of available resources and preparedness for the ever-changing epidemiology of COVID-19. This includes the mobilization of human resources, procurement of personal protective equipment, laboratory facilities, and upgrading of hospital facilities and hospital equipment. Since April 2020, mathematical models have been developed to capture key aspects of SARS-CoV-2 transmission along with national strategies for epidemic control and the future impact on health-care services.
The aim of this APW is to assess the economic burden of COVID-19 and its health response to help derive evidence for decision-makers (in addition to other contributing factors and priorities) to strategize the management of COVID-19 in the future. More specifically, the contractor is requested to conduct a cost-effective analysis/economic evaluation of public health and social measures for COVID-19 under different scenarios and deliver training to empower stakeholders with the capabilities to conduct similar analyses for other infectious disease outbreaks in future.
Planned timelines
- Start date: 1 July 2022
- End date: 30 December 2022
Work to be performed
The contractor will perform the following specific tasks:
- Conduct economic evaluation/cost-effectiveness analysis of COVID-19 public health interventions in selected localities of Malaysia with different levels of COVID-19 transmission and assess the corresponding impacts on healthcare services.
- Utilize the findings from the analysis (once approved by the Ministry of Health) to conduct virtual training sessions such as lectures, workshops and discussions to provide in-depth understanding of the application of cost-effectiveness analysis for future outbreaks of similar infectious diseases.
- Produce scientific publications or policy/technical reports on estimating the economic burden of COVID- 19 to health-care services in Malaysia and disseminate the findings to relevant key stakeholders.
Method(s) to carry out the activity
The contractor will work with the Malaysian Health Technology Assessment Section (MaHTAS), Ministry of Health on the delivery of the following activities:
- Perform preparatory work and provide support by email, videoconferencing, meetings and discussions for the conduct of the cost-effectiveness analysis through gathering local level information.
- Conduct workshops and facilitate discussions among government officers, researchers, academicians and other relevant stakeholders.
- Draft scientific publications or policy/technical reports.
- Collaborate with other local collaborators in areas that support the work to produce the outputs below.
Outputs and deliverables
Output 1: Collaborate with MaHTAS to develop an economic evaluation/cost-effectiveness analysis based on different transmission intensities of COVID-19 as an infectious disease model in different localities. This is to identify the cost-effectiveness of an intervention or a group of interventions. Use the data obtained to assist financial planning and delivery of healthcare services. This includes carrying out the necessary data collection and data extraction with local collaborators.
Deliverable 1.1: Produce an inception technical report of the economic evaluation based on COVID-19 in Malaysia. The report should include details of the economic analysis that will be used.
Output 2: Conduct capacity building workshops on economic evaluation/cost-effectiveness analysis of COVD-19 interventions and a series of hands-on training sessions for the MaHTAS officers.
Deliverable 2.1: Produce a workshop and hands-on session report with training materials for capacity building in cost-effectiveness analysis of infectious diseases. The report should include the number of officers trained as well as the measure of knowledge retention among trainees.
Output 3: Disseminate the findings of the economic evaluation to estimate the cost-effectiveness of public health and social interventions.
Deliverable 3.1: Produce a scientific publication or policy/technical report on the economic analysis to inform on the cost-effectiveness of public health and social interventions.
Deliverable 3.2: Conduct a virtual workshop to present the findings of the cost-effectiveness analysis to the respective key stakeholders.
Specific requirements
Institutions or research groups made up of individuals possessing the following qualifications, experiences and skills:
Qualifications required:
Essential: An advanced university degree in public health or health economics/pharmacoeconomics or related disciplines.
Desirable: PhD in any of the above subjects. Training in evaluation and work experience in health economic analysis and/or estimation of burden of disease.
Experience required:
Essential: A minimum of seven years of experience in conducting economic evaluation and/or estimating the economic burden of infectious disease.
Desirable: Have expertise and experience in conducting cost-effectiveness analyses for estimation of burden of disease.
Able to work closely with international collaborators and local institutions within the scope of this project.
Able to provide rapid response to arising queries by the local collaborators.
Have an excellent understanding of the Malaysian health-care system, particularly the public health-care system and availability of Malaysian health-care data.
Skills / Technical skills:
- Excellent communication skills, including written and verbal skills
- Ability to work under pressure
- Ability to work on a team with limited supervision
- Excellent writing skills
Language requirements:
Proficient in written and spoken English (Read ‐ Write ‐ Speak / Expert or Intermediate)
Competencies:
The contractor must be able to:
- Work across multiple teams or institutions remotely
- Build and promote partnerships across the Organization and beyond
- Move forward in a changing environment
- Ensure the effective use of resources
- Foster integration and teamwork
- Communicate in a credible and effective way.
Place of assignment
WHO Country Office in Malaysia and Ministry of Health Malaysia
Travel
Not applicable
SUBMISSIONS
Qualified and interested specialists should submit the following documents to the Supply Officer through WP RO UNGM at < wproungm@who.int > by 21 June 2022
- • Company Profile {for institutional applications}
- • Technical proposal indicating solution, methodology and timelines, in addition to the below annexes:
- o Annex 1: Acknowledgement Form
- o Annex 2: Confidentiality Undertaking
- o Annex 3: Proposal Completeness Form
- o Annex 6: Self-Declaration Form
- • Financial proposal
Please use Tender Notice No. WPRO/2022-06/MYS/175657 as subject to all submission. Only successful candidates will be contacted.
Last day of receiving queries for this tender is on 10 June 2022
All rights in the work, including ownership in the original work and copyright thereof, shall be vested in WHO, which reserves the right (a) to revise the work (b) to use the work in a different way from that originally envisages, or (c) not to publish or use the work.