PAHO Consultant - "Laboratory Systems"

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 29, 2026

Closing Date:

October 7, 2026, 11:59 PM Suriname Time

Primary Location:

Paramaribo, Suriname

Organization:

SUR Suriname

Schedule:

Full time

PURPOSE OF CONSULTANCY

This requisition is for a consultancy at the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO)/Regional Office of the World Health Organization (WHO).

DESCRIPTION OF DUTIES:

1. Purpose of the consultancy

The purpose of this consultancy is to support the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Labour of Suriname and the Central Laboratory of the Bureau of Public Health (BOG) to establish a comprehensive and evidence-based understanding of the current status, functional level and capacity of laboratories within the national public laboratory network and, on this basis, develop a prioritized and costed plan for their improvement. The consultancy will undertake standardized facility-level assessments using the WHO Laboratory Assessment Tool (LAT), Annex 2: Facility Questionnaire, adapted and supplemented as necessary to the Suriname context.

The assessment will determine, for each laboratory:

1. its current role and functional level within the laboratory network;

2. the diagnostic services and tests currently available;

3. the status and adequacy of infrastructure and utilities;

4. the equipment available, including its functionality, utilization, maintenance and calibration status;

5. the availability, number, qualifications and competencies of human resources;

6. the status of laboratory quality-management systems;

7. biosafety and biosecurity capacity;

8. specimen collection, handling, referral and transport arrangements;

9. data-management and laboratory information-system capacity;

10. availability and management of reagents and consumables;

11. operational, technical and resource gaps affecting laboratory performance; and

12. the improvements and investments required for the laboratory to perform its expected role.

The principal final product of the consultancy will be a prioritized and costed two-year National Laboratory Improvement Plan, supported by individual laboratory assessments, laboratory profiles, equipment and human-resource inventories, diagnostic-capacity mapping and clear identification of the gap between the current and expected functional level of each laboratory.

2. Background

Under the PAHO Suriname concept note Integrated Assessment of the National Laboratory System and Key Public Laboratory Facilities in Suriname, a PAHO assessment team conducted an in-country mission from 10 to 13 August 2026, with a stakeholder debriefing on 14 August 2026. The assessment resulted in a roadmap comprising four Phase 1 recommendations: modernization of the legal notification framework; appointment of a National Laboratory Network Coordinator within the Central Laboratory leadership, supported by an interim financing arrangement; development, allocation and stakeholder costing of a national essential diagnostics list based on the fourth edition of the WHO Model List of Essential In Vitro Diagnostics and complemented by a national chemical testing capability list; and engagement of dedicated laboratory consultant(s), which this Terms of Reference is intended to operationalize. The assessment identified important existing diagnostic capacities, as well as structural, institutional and operational gaps affecting the effectiveness and sustainability of the national laboratory network. While the mission provided a valuable system-level overview, it did not include comprehensive, standardized facility-level assessments using the WHO Laboratory Assessment Tool. This consultancy will address that gap by undertaking detailed assessments of the relevant laboratory facilities and using the findings to inform the development of a prioritized and costed laboratory improvement plan.

A detailed facility assessment is therefore required to establish a reliable national baseline describing what laboratory capacity currently exists, where it exists, whether it is functional, whether it is adequately staffed and equipped, and what investments and system improvements are required.

The WHO Laboratory Assessment Tool provides a standardized framework covering laboratory identification, organization and management, documentation, specimen collection and transport, data and information management, consumables and reagents, equipment, laboratory testing performance, facilities, human resources, bio risk management, public-health functions and gap analysis.

The Tool will therefore serve as the principal facility-assessment instrument for this consultancy. However, because the objective of the assignment is also to determine functional laboratory levels and translate findings into concrete investment and improvement requirements, the WHO LAT will be supplemented by standardized Suriname-specific assessment matrices described in these Terms of Reference.The consultancy contributes to the implementation of the recommendations arising from the August 2026 laboratory-system assessment and will provide evidence for subsequent national laboratory planning, financing and system strengthening.

3. Work to be performed and deliverables

3.1. Overall approach

The consultant will undertake a structured process of:

The consultant will undertake a structured process of:

Inventory → Assessment → Classification → Gap analysis → Prioritization → Costing → Improvement planning

All laboratories included in the agreed scope will be assessed using a common methodology to ensure comparability. The assessment will combine:

review of existing documentation;

interviews with laboratory managers and staff;

direct observation;

physical verification of equipment and infrastructure;

review of test menus and workload data;

review of human resource information;

completion of the WHO Laboratory Assessment Tool;

review of relevant laboratory records;

verification of selected findings; and

consultation with relevant national stakeholders.

Recommendations shall be based on documented assessment findings.

3.2 Laboratories and facilities to be assessed

The assessment will cover the relevant public actors of the national laboratory network, including:

the Central Laboratory of the Bureau of Public Health;

the Academic Hospital Paramaribo laboratory;

other public hospital laboratories;

relevant laboratory facilities and services within the Regional Health Service/RGD network;

relevant laboratory facilities and services within the Medische Zending/MZ network;

facilities not assessed during the August 2026 mission; and

other public laboratory facilities agreed between the MOHWL and PAHO/WHO during the inception phase.

Where a facility does not operate a full laboratory but provides specimen collection, point-of-care testing, specimen storage or referral functions, these functions should be assessed according to their role in the national laboratory network. The final list of laboratories and facilities shall be agreed during the inception phase.

3.3. Core assessment instrument: WHO Laboratory assessment tool and standardized supplementary modules

The WHO Laboratory Assessment Tool (LAT), Annex 2: Facility Questionnaire, shall serve as the principal standardized instrument for assessing each laboratory, with all relevant sections completed according to the facility’s role and level. To ensure that the assessment generates the additional evidence required for functional classification, gap analysis and investment planning, the WHO LAT shall be complemented by four standardized supplementary modules (details in Annex 3) developed and applied by the consultant.

3.4. Key activities

Review the August 2026 ass