Gill Walt Dip Soc Admin BSc PhD

Professor of International Health Policy

I am Emeritus Professor of International Health Policy and am situated in the Global Health and Development Department. Although I have 'officially' retired, I am still active in research, and come into the School one day a week. I have a PhD from the London School of Economics and Political Science. Before joining the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine I worked in the Ministry of Health in Mozambique, and have since worked for short periods in many countries in Southern Africa, as well as other parts of the developing world. I have published widely, taking a special interest in the role of international organisations in health. My last book, published in 2005, was written with colleagues Kent Buse and Nicholas Mays, and is entitled 'Making Health Policy' published by the Open University Press.

Research interests are on policy transfer between international and national jurisdictions, especially in relation to infectious diseases, the growth of global public-private partnerships and global health initiatives such as the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria. I have two current research projects. One is working with Lucy Gilson and others at the University of Cape Town (where I am an Honorary Professor) on health policy analysis and methods for synthesis. A second focuses on an investigation (with Jeremy Shiffman of the American University, Washington) on global health policy networks, which is comparing three pairs of issues (TB and pneumonia; alcohol and tobacco; and maternal and neonatal survival) to understand why some attain more global attention and resources than others. 

Affiliation

Teaching

My teaching is largely focused on health policy analysis, looking particularly at the policy process. I advise a number of PhD or DrPH students on using policy analysis as an approach to their research.

Research

Research during the first decade of the 2000s focused on new forms of governance of aid. With others, we looked at the early achievements and challenges for the GAVI Alliance, and also the early roll-out of Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria monies in four African countries: Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. A team from the London School worked with researchers in each of the countries. The research aimed to give voice to country views and perceptions of this early stage of the Global Fund. The most recent research focused on the Global Fund, World Bank MAP and PEPFAR initiatives on HIV/AIDS, and their effects on health systems. This explored questions around access and equity, coordination and harmonization of efforts. A description of the countries and research groups involved, the donors funding this work, research objectives and publications is available on www.ghin.lshtm.ac.uk.  Current research is on global health policy networks, with special reference to the TB network, and builds on earlier research on policy transfer, where, with other colleagues, we studied the genesis and implementation of directly observed therapy short-course (DOTS).  

Research areas

  • Globalisation
  • Health inequalities
  • Health policy
  • Research : policy relationship

Disciplines

  • Policy analysis
  • Sociology

Disease and Health Conditions

  • Infectious disease

Other interests

  • Governance
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