Kara Hanson
SD
Professor
of Health System Economics and Dean, Faculty of Public Health and Policy
LSHTM
15-17 Tavistock Place
London
WC1H 9SH
United Kingdom
I have spent the last 30 years researching the economics of health systems in low- and middle-income countries. My major contributions are in the areas of health financing and the private health sector. I chaired the recent Lancet Global Health Commission on Financing Primary Health Care, and have authored key publications on how strategic purchasing can help to improve health system performance. My work on the private sector has contributed to our understanding of the opportunities and limitations of using the private sector to extend access to critical public health interventions and, more recently, to the challenges of regulating healthcare markets. I frequently advise national governments and international organisations on health system and financing issues. I am President-Elect of the International Health Economics Association.
Affiliations
Centres
Teaching
I teach on Economic Analysis for Health Policy and tutor on the MSc in Public Health for Development. My research degrees students are studying topics including measurement of financial risk protection and Universal Health Coverage, community health worker incentives, public sector reforms, and cost-effectiveness of malaria in pregnancy interventions.
Research
My research has focused primarily on the economics of health systems in low- and middle-income countries. I have done research on hospital sector reforms in Uganda and Zambia, focusing on the implications of two-tier pricing for equity of access to hospital services. I am interested in the role of the private sector in health systems, and in identifying the opportunities and limitations of the private sector in improving the efficiency, quality and responsiveness of health systems. This includes a particular interest in novel approaches to regulation, particularly in relation to market disruptions such as provider consolidation and epharmacy. I am also interested in health financing reforms, particularly how to increase the levels and effectiveness of spending on primary health care. I have worked with a DFID funded project on education systems research, contributing insights from the development of health systems research methods.
I have a particular interest in the evaluation of complex health system interventions and am a member of the Centre for Evaluation (http://evaluation.lshtm.ac.uk/), the Malaria Centre (http://malaria.lshtm.ac.uk), and the Centre for Global Noncommunicable Diseases.
I was the founding director of what is now the Global Health Economics Centre at LSHTM.
Selected Publications
