View Vacancy – Regional Health Adviser: Public health and nutrition

Main purpose of job:

The British Embassy in Mexico City is looking for an experienced, motivated and high performing public health professional to provide leadership to move forward the UK’s engagement on the public health, food and nutrition agenda in Mexico and the Americas. 

This is a fantastic opportunity, during a period of unique challenge in terms of the global public health agenda, for a talented individual to lead the growth of the public health, food and nutrition agendas in the Americas – Mexico in particular – with the aim of learning from innovative public health initiatives and positioning the UK as a partner of choice in the region on key public health challenges around healthy weight, food and nutrition.  The ultimate objective of the role is to improve the design and delivery of policy interventions both in the Americas and the UK, to deliver improved health outcomes, and more effective and coordinated international action to tackle global health security challenges linked to public health, food and nutrition themes. 

This new position will leverage and diversify the work on the health portfolio in Mexico over the last three years, in particular in the field of public health and obesity reduction, deepening collaborations with the UK Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC). The role will also lead on exploring and developing the scope for public health and nutrition to be considered in the context of trade agreements. 

The job also will require coordination with a broader health portfolio in the British Embassy in Mexico, and more widely across the Americas region.

Roles and responsibilities / what will the jobholder be expected to achieve?:

This position requires that you lead on developing the policy agenda relating to international cooperation on issues of public health, healthy weight, food and nutrition in the Americas, with a particular focus on Mexico.  

Key responsibilities of the role will include: 
 

• Managing high-level policy work, including providing leadership to secure bilateral public health agreements relating to public health/ nutrition and food with priority countries in the region, including with Mexico, and potentially  Canada, Chile and Peru.  
• Building and developing networks to support Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and other UK Government agencies’ agendas in the region regarding public health, food and (mal)nutrition, including:
  • Building relationships with key agencies in priority countries (potentially including central and local governments, public and private sector health agencies and institutions, academia and research institutions, industry and civil society/ NGOs). 
  • Leveraging the UK influence in the Americas by strengthening networks with/among: multilateral organizations, regional bodies, NGOs, other Embassies and academia.
  • Building a strong network with relevant British Embassies/ High Commissions the Americas region, and with key relevant UK Government Departments/ Agencies, including the DHSC, Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), Department for International Trade (DIT), Public Health England (PHE), and other bodies.  
• Promoting technical and high-level collaboration between leaders and strategic organisations in the sector, and representing the DHSC and the Embassy with high-level and technical stakeholders at external meetings and/or networks. 
• Providing contextual and political economy reporting relevant and lead on analysis and intelligence gathering to inform UK Government decision making on the public health, food and nutrition agenda.
• Promoting academic research and technical cooperation to contribute to existing evidence regarding the impact of innovative/disruptive policy change relating to public health/ food and nutrition, potentially including development of bilateral research agendas to capitalise on existing expertise in research centres in Mexico. Those collaborations will generate evidence regarding the impact of innovative policies implemented in Mexico and the Americas to support the UK and Mexico decision-making processes regarding food and nutrition policy interventions.
• Working in close consultation with other UK Government agencies such as DIT and the FCDO, lead on the integration of the public health considerations into commercial and trade policy agendas (including the CPTPP and the UK-Mexico bilateral trade agenda). The will include exploring the potential to mitigate possible negative effects of trade agreements in public health – including food environments.   
• Explore the scope to further develop the regional and Mexican agenda on public health, food and nutrition, potentially including analysis of:
  • the links between nutrition and health impacts of COVID-19;
  • the health impacts of climate change and its links to the agriculture, food and nutrition agenda;
  • opportunities to expand food and nutrition public health thematic collaboration to consider other relevant topics beyond obesity, such as: food environments, healthy habits, social determinants, industry and commercial angles, malnutrition, access to healthy food.
• As required, programme/ project manage interventions to support regional/national collaborations. 

– Graduate with a university degree and at least 7 years of experience in health system strengthening, public health, food and nutrition or any other relevant field
– Extensive knowledge of the health sector in Mexico from having worked in the public/private sectors
– Passion for health and a desire to improve health in Mexico
– Experience in developing policy advice/analysis and delivering successful policy interventions/ programmes
– Experience working in multidisciplinary teams
– Experience collaborating within international environments 
– Computer literate, working with Microsoft Windows and able to manage information effectively with available computer systems

Language requirements: 

Language: English and Spanish 

Level of language required: Advanced in both English and Spanish