Thanzi la Onse’s (Health of All) core objective is to improve population health and reduce health inequities in Malawi, Uganda and Southern and East Africa.
We aim to achieve this by developing and sustaining high quality research to inform resource allocation decisions in the region and supporting policy environments for the productive use of that research. This challenging area lies at the intersection of health and epidemiology, economics and politics and Thanzi la Onse research covers all of these areas. To enhance population health benefits, the value of specific health care policies needs to be understood within the context of health care systems in which they are delivered. We work closely with researchers and policy-makers at all levels (in Malawi, Uganda and beyond) and study these complex inter-relationships with the aim of devising approaches that are most likely to lead to population health improvements.
In the long term, we hope that by strengthening the local capacity for health economics and modelling in Malawi and Uganda, the knowledge and evidence produced by researchers can be further developed and used as templates to address the resource allocation challenges facing other countries in Africa…
Thanzi la Onse is developing a whole-country model which will reflect population healthcare needs, taking into account the finances, facilities and people available, and how these resources are currently being deployed. Linking with the programme’s other themes, it will allow researchers to illustrate how different resource allocation strategies will affect the provision of healthcare and the subsequent impact on population health.
These modelling analyses are integrated with an extensive programme of health economics research in areas including reflecting equity and efficiency in health benefit package, system strengthening, and markets ad incentives. This will inform the design of policies for efficient allocation and structures of incentives and payments. Research to support decision-making also needs to recognise the potential barriers to its acceptance and implementation. This is reflected within and informed by work on policy and governance.
Working with policy-makers in Southern and East Africa is central to Thanzi la Onse. In the long term, we hope that by strengthening the local capacity for health economics and modelling in Malawi and Uganda, the knowledge and evidence produced by researchers can be further developed and used as templates to address the resource allocation challenges facing other countries in Africa.
