HEALTH SYSTEM INSIGHTS · JIM ROCK
I am a senior health systems consultant based in Canberra, Australia. Over more than 25 years, I have worked across Asia, the Pacific and fragile settings on health sector reform, programme leadership, independent evaluation and technical assistance.
My work spans governance, financing, workforce, information, health products and service delivery. I combine fieldwork research and analysis with practical capacity development, helping ministries, development partners and civil society move from complex evidence to workable decisions.
How I work
I investigate how systems operate in practice through document and data review, stakeholder interviews, facility visits and participant observation. I bring qualitative and quantitative evidence together to understand the problem, the institutional context and the choices available.
I design and adapt analytical approaches to the assignment. Examples include participant observation of Afghanistan’s Sehatmandi procurement process, a modified Delphi approach to reconcile sharply divergent views on Nepal’s HIV service package, and a primary health care efficiency tool for Papua New Guinea.
I design and facilitate policy validation and problem-solving workshops, including in politically sensitive settings. Structured discussion, explicit assessment criteria and careful analysis of disagreement help participants build consensus while recognising differences in needs and priorities.
Capacity development is part of this work: manager training, on-the-job learning, practical guidance, diagnostic tools and organisational capability assessment. Recommendations are grounded in the staffing, resources, information, financing and institutional responsibilities needed to act on them.
Technical and programme leadership
- Founding Director of the UNAIDS Technical Support Facility for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, directing a technical assistance portfolio serving 26 countries.
- Country Director for Family Health International in Timor-Leste, establishing and leading a national HIV programme in a post-conflict setting, supporting local NGO capacity and the Ministry of Health, and helping secure Global Fund follow-on financing.
- Joint Focal Point for Resilient and Sustainable Systems for Health on the Global Fund Technical Review Panel, co-leading international expert review and co-authoring the 2021 RSSH advisory paper.
- Health systems and pandemic prevention and preparedness expert for the Global Fund OIG, leading that component of its audit of the model for delivering the 2023–2028 Strategy.
- Team leader for the four-country SKPA-2 financing and service sustainability assessment, and human resource capacity development expert on the independent evaluation of Luxembourg’s LAO/035 Health and Nutrition Programme in Lao PDR.
Breadth of consulting experience
Alongside these roles, my assignments have included HIV investment analysis and national strategy costing in Papua New Guinea; decentralisation and financing review; Global Fund funding-request coordination and strategic review; organisational capacity development for UNAIDS; programme guidance for the Fred Hollows Foundation; and technical assistance design and quality assurance. Current Vanuatu work brings these skills together in national service policy, field research, consultation, validation and implementation planning.
Knowledge products
Selected products include the PNG primary health care efficiency tool, Nepal modified Delphi workshop reports, Afghanistan mission and procurement analysis, contributions to the Luxembourg evaluation and Global Fund OIG audit, and co-authorship of the 2021 TRP RSSH advisory paper. I am also developing Health in the Balance, a practical handbook on climate change, health systems and declining development assistance; the current source is a 2026 manuscript.
Education and regional experience
Master’s degree in Public Health, with a focus on health systems management, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. Bachelor of Arts with First Class Honours, University of Sydney, focusing on anthropology and international and comparative education.
Extensive experience across Asia and the Pacific, including Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste, Fiji, Lao PDR, Bhutan, Nepal, Mongolia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Pakistan and Afghanistan, with programme leadership in Kosovo and technical support and organisational work in Eastern and Southern Africa.
