I am an Associate Professor in Health and Wellbeing Economics in the Department of Global Health and Development, and co-Director of the Global Health Economics Centre.
My main research interest is in understanding the value of health and quality of life, and the measurement of broader outcomes in the evaluation of public health programmes, including capabilities and subjective wellbeing.
I obtained a degree in Economics and Public Administration at Bocconi University in Milan and an MSc in Social Policy and Planning for Developing Countries at LSE, with a dissertation on the international migration of health workers. I completed my PhD at the LSHTM on the development of a multidimensional index based on Sen’s Capability Approach to assess women’s wellbeing in rural Malawi.
I joined the LSHTM in 2006. In 2013-14 I have supported the drafting of the Wellbeing and Policy report of the Legatum Commission chaired by Gus O'Donnell with Angus Deaton, Richard Layard, Martine Durand and David Halpern. In 2021, I worked with the WHO Council on the Economics of Health for All, chaired by Mariana Mazzucato, on the development of the 3rd Council Brief on Valuing Health for All and contributing to one Insights on time-use data and one article on women's unpaid care work.
I was awarded an Early Career Fellowship from the UK Medical Research Council to develop a wellbeing measure for use in economic evaluation of public health programmes. I was Honorary Senior Scientist at the MRC/UVRI & LSHTM Uganda Research Unit and Visiting Lecturer at the School of Economics, Makerere University, Uganda from 2016 to 2019.
I was a founder and convener of the IHEA Special Interest Group for Early Career Researchers (2016 - 2021) and have been a convener for the SIG on Mental Health Economics since 2022. I am a Fellow and an elected member of the Executive Council of the Human Development & Capabilities Association (HDCA). I am an Associate Editor of the Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, and of Social Science & Medicine.
I supervised Ian Ross for his PhD on measuring and valuing quality of life in sanitation interventions in Mozambique and I am currently supervising 1) Kenneth Katumba, working on the role of structural and behavioural factors for HIV prevention in Uganda; 2) Rebecca Prah, working on the use of novel quality of life measures for assessing adolescent wellbeing and menstrual health in Uganda; and 3) Michaela Takawira, working on the evaluation of a check-up strategy to improve adolescents' wellbeing in Zimbabwe.
Affiliations
Teaching
I am co-Module Organiser for the DL PHM203 Economic Analysis for Health Policy at the LSHTM.
I was a seminar leader for Introduction to Health Economics at the LSHTM and I taught the course Cost-effectiveness Analysis in Health Care for the MSc in Health Services Research; and the course Health Economics and Finance for the MPH at Makerere University School of Public Health, Uganda.
I also taught at the East Africa Diploma in Tropical Medicine & Health.
I am the Education Officer for the HDCA and I convene the Summer School which is held every year ahead of the main conference.
Research
My main research interest is on the measurement and determinants of subjective wellbeing and capabilities, and their use in the evaluation of complex public health interventions, using mixed-methods.
In the past, I worked on: 1) assessment of financial resources for RMNCH in priority countries; 2) economic evaluations of reproductive, maternal and newborn health programmes (MaiMwana Project in Malawi; Saving Newborn Lives in Nepal and Malawi; EVA-PMDUP in Zambia and India, Omwana in Uganda); 3) economic evaluation of complex school-based interventions (Good School trial to reduce violence against children in Uganda, Menstrual Hygiene Management in Schools in Uganda and Tanzania); and 4) economic analysis of mental health in conflict-affected areas (PVAC in Tanzania, RECAP and GOAL in Uganda and Lebanon).
I have recently moved to Nairobi, Kenya, and my current research projects are:
- High Horizons to assess the impact of mitigation and adaptation strategies for extreme heat on maternal health outcomes, wellbeing and productivity in Zimbabwe, Kenya, South Africa
- Y-CHECK to assess the impact and cost-effectiveness of adolescent health and well-being check-ups in Zimbabwe, Tanzania and Ghana
- The Livelihoods Programme: to assess the impact and cost-effectiveness of CAMFED’s support for adolescent girls' economic activity, wellbeing and health in Zimbabwe and Tanzania.
- CHANGE: to assess the impact and cost-effectiveness of a psychological intervention for people living in refugees settlements in Northern Uganda and Ukraine.
