Health Economics | Thanzi la Onse

The health economics research theme in Thanzi la Onse aims at developing methods and producing analyses to inform a range of resource allocation decisions relating to health.

It draws on the research team’s previous expertise relating to an extensive range of economic tools and analysis applied to health including economic evaluation; the economics of health care systems; the economics of incentives and industrial organisation; econometrics and the economics of health behaviours. Rather than being separate research areas, these are integrated to assess the value of alternative policies in terms of population benefits at the local level. The theme is arranged into five research areas:

Health
sector resource
allocation

Determining how health care resources can be allocated across the whole health care system using tools such as health benefits packages and resource allocation formulas.

Economics of health systems constraints, strengthening and service interventions

Informing cross-cutting investments in health care systems (e.g. infrastructures and other inputs, configurations of care and demand-side measures) as well as in the direct delivery of clinical interventions.

Determinants
of health and
inter-sectoral allocation

Investigating how population health care be improved through means other than health care delivery (e.g. social protection, agriculture) and how this should be funded.

Markets
and Incentives

Ensuring delivery of the right kinds of health care through activities such as embedding incentives within health care systems (e.g. payment incentives, medical contracting) using insights from industrial organisation.

Guiding
research activities

Informing the design of research and evidence generation activities that are most likely to lead to health improvement and reduction in population health inequalities.

Thanzi la Onse is distinguished by combining theory, methods development and real-world applications leading to insights and recommendations that can be adopted practically when formulating policies and implemented within challenging health care systems.