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

Location: Off Site

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 o