Interests
Health system development; public health interventions in health, population, and nutrition; mental health; integrated care; and collaborative service deliverySkills
Project/programme conception, design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation; Policy and institutional analysis and synthesis; Writing, editing and publishing; Advocacy and social mobilisation; Facilitation, training and capacity building; and Health service managementBackground and relevant experience
Tarry initially trained as a medical doctor in Nigeria: engaged in various roles from being a rural doctor working in a Mission Hospital to operating an Industrial Clinic at the Natural Liquefied Gas Plant site on Bonny Island. Through a community-based health project in the Niger Delta region, he obtained the British Chevening Scholarship to undertake a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree in Health, Population & Nutrition at Keele University, UK.Following which he worked for the UK Department for International Health (DFID) as Health Adviser, where among several duties he: acted as DFID Nigeria’s authoritative expert and focal point on health issues in relation to overall human development; kept the organisation on the cutting edge of thinking on drivers of change within the sector; supervised the technical soundness of its work and provided specific technical assistance in health financing and private sector engagement; managed a development budget running into several multi-millions pounds annually; and supervised specific health intervention projects geared towards improving the health status of ordinary people.
On leaving DFID, he became an Independent Health Management Consultant & Advisor, who brings diverse skills to assist client organisations (National & State Governments, Local & International NGOs, & Donors etc.) mainly across Anglophone West Africa in achieving their corporate objectives. During this period, Tarry additionally obtained a Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) degree in Health Planning and Management also from Keele University, UK through his research study of the feasibility of managed clinical networks as a potential model for collaborative service delivery in developing countries. Apart from providing short-term technical assistance in programme/project design, implementation of specific programme/project activities, and reviews and evaluation of projects/programmes; Tarry has been publishing industry Newsletters, as well as developing specialist reports, strategic think-pieces, and related papers, including Co-Editor of Africa Health for several years.
Tarry has undertaken work in international health development on diverse areas: health systems strengthening, health financing, policy analysis, institutional work, nutrition, mental health, and disability inclusive women’s health among others; commissioned by donor agencies (DFID, WHO, UNICEF), consulting firms/INGOs (HLSP, OPM, HPI, CBM Australia, Results for Development, Overseas Development Institute, CBM International etc.), and private sector organisations (GE, SHELL). Some recent consulting assignments include:
- Co-Facilitator of Community Health Community of Practice (CH CoP) on The Collectivity platform, since February 2018 - online gathering of practitioners, policy makers, researchers, policy makers, programme implementers and other experts actively involved in the technical or policy development of community health programmes in low- and middle-income countries. It offers a network to share experience among countries facing similar challenges; access to global knowledge on community health and its institutionalisation; opportunities for learning, exchanging and debating; constant information on new theoretical, operational or empirical development in this domain of knowledge. Supported by UNICEF in collaboration with USAID and hosted by the Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, Belgium.
- Support to the design of Business Case for an integrated Nutrition and WASH Programme for DFID Nigeria, January to March 2019
- End of Project Evaluation - Support Government of Ghana to build a Community Mental Health System funded by DFID Ghana, March to April 2018
- Advocacy Training for Mental Health Leadership and Advocacy Programme (mhLAP) for Anglophone West African countries supported by CBM international, 2014 to 2020.
- Advice and implementation of the Oloibiri Health Programme (OHP), since November 2017 - a ‘legacy’ project of Shell Petroleum Development Company to commemorate where it first found oil in Nigeria - district health system strengthening, community health worker initiative and social determinants of health.