Margaret Chirgwin - Health Advisor

Overview

Dr Margaret Chirgwin is Health Partners International’s Health Advisor with particular expertise in public health, Primary Health Care and health systems reform. She has more than 20 years experience in Australia, South America, Africa, Western Europe and Asia. Key areas of Margaret’s expertise include:

  • public health
  • quality of care
  • reproductive health
  • communicable diseases
  • essential drugs and drug protocols
  • media and lobbying in support of policy
  • participatory needs assessment
  • tropical diseases


Background and relevant experience

Margaret is currently providing ongoing technical advisory support to the Support to Nigeria Malaria Programme (SuNMaP). Before joining HPI, Margaret was the Media and Communications Officer for the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (NACCHO). This role involved developing and implementing the media and communications strategy. As well as the development of policy and position statements, she contributed towards the development of the website, organising an Indigenous Health Conference and other media events, and the development of a lobbying toolkit.


Prior to this, Margaret was Director of Public Health and Ethics for the Australian Medical Association (AMA), providing leadership and focus for the organisation across the whole Public Health and Ethics arena, providing briefings and the development of evidence based position statements on high priority areas, lobbying parliamentarians and governmental and non-governmental organisations in support of policy.


Between 1991 and 2003, she consulted on various short-term assignments for DFID as well as being involved in bid preparation consultancy for the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank.


As Chief Executive (1999–2001) of Salford West Primary Care Group (PCG), Margaret developed the organisational structure from scratch, managing a budget of nearly £90 million and took the PCG through a successful consultation process to become a Primary Care Trust in 2001. Successes include:

  • rationalisation of payments to GP practices
  • public participation in the 2000/2001 Health Improvement Plan
  • employment of FP to cover intermediate care facilities

Margaret was a Primary Health Care specialist to the DFID funded Benue Health Fund in Nigeria (1996–1998) and was involved from the start up of this project and planned, budgeted and supervised a variety of activities in both the primary and secondary care sectors including:

  • Developing a drug revolving system and work on both the drug supply and quality assurance systems for the hospitals. The basic elements were replicated across 5 states by GRID Consulting in the PATHS programme.
  • Secondary hospital quality assurance
  • Development of a PHC quality of care training programme

Margaret’s other work has included the development of the health sector strategy for Bolivia as the Health and Population Field Manager for DFID; assisting in the setting up of the Health Sector Reform Resource Centre funded by DFID for Health and Life Sciences Partnership in the UK; Registrar in Public Health Medicine for Leicester District Health Authority; setting up an integrated Primary Health Care Project with Health Unlimited; and family planning research for the Rockefeller Foundation.


Margaret has consulted in Egypt, Tunisia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Cambodia, Uganda, Nigeria, Kenya, Somalia, Australia, UK, Bolivia , Sudan and USA,