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Benjamin Palafox

BSc MSc

Research Fellow
in Pharmaceutical Policy & Economics

Room
TP/101

LSHTM
15-17 Tavistock Place
London
WC1H 9SH
United Kingdom

Tel.
+44 (0)20 7958 8337

I joined the Faculty of Public Health and Policy in 2008 to work on the ACTwatch Project examining access to malaria treatment, and have since have worked on several project related to access to care and health systems development in low- and middle-income countries, including the update to the Rockefeller Foundation's influential Good Health at Low Cost report. I have also worked on several projects examining the influence of health systems and access to care on cardiovascular disease and its risk factors: The Prospective Urban and Rural Epidemiological study (PURE) is one of the largest studies which has established prospective cohorts in 25 countries at all levels of economic development; and the recently-completed RESPOND project, which examined barriers to hypertension care faced by poor households in Malaysia and the Philippines. I am currently working on a mixed-methods project in India and Kenya that seeks to understand how e-pharmacy markets can be regulated appropriately to optimise the quality, safety and accessibility of medicines.

I obtained my first degree in Microbiology & Immunology from McGill University in Montreal, Canada, and subsequently completed the MSc in Public Health in Developing Countries at LSHTM. My previous public health experience has all been in the public sector. For several years, I worked on health financing and access to medicines issues at the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation, an agency of the Philippine Department of Health. Just before returning to LSHTM, I was a senior analyst with the Public Health Agency of Canada working to improve access to data for surveillance and reporting activities.

My current areas of interest include pharmaceutical policy, and health systems and financing. This year I will be tutoring students on the Public Health for Development master's course, and teaching on the Basic Statistics for Public Health & Policy module for students on the School's Distance Learning MSc in Public Health.

Affiliations

Department of Health Services Research and Policy
Department of Global Health and Development

Centres

Centre for Evaluation
Centre for Global Chronic Conditions
Malaria Centre

Research

Research Area
Health care financing
Health policy
Health sector development
Health systems
Infectious disease policy
Public health
Medicines
Discipline
Economics
Epidemiology
Statistics
Disease and Health Conditions
Cardiovascular disease
Malaria
Non-communicable diseases
Country
Benin
Malaysia
Nigeria
Philippines
Uganda
Zambia
Region
East Asia & Pacific (developing only)
Latin America & Caribbean (developing only)
Middle East & North Africa (developing only)
Sub-Saharan Africa (developing only)

Selected Publications

Strengths and Weaknesses of Digital Diaries as a Means to Study Patient Pathways: Experiences With a Study of Hypertension in the Philippines
Mendoza J; Seguin ML; Lasco G; Palileo-Villanueva LM; Amit A; Renedo A; McKee M; Palafox B; Balabanova D
2021
International Journal of Qualitative Methods
(De)constructing 'therapeutic itineraries' of hypertension care: A qualitative study in the Philippines.
Mendoza JA; Lasco G; Renedo A; Palileo-Villanueva L; Seguin M; Palafox B; Amit AML; Pepito V; McKee M; Balabanova D
2021
Social science & medicine (1982)
Enhancing the use of stakeholder analysis for policy implementation research: towards a novel framing and operationalised measures.
Balane MA; Palafox B; Palileo-Villanueva LM; McKee M; Balabanova D
2020
BMJ GLOBAL HEALTH
The Long and Winding Road: A Systematic Literature Review Conceptualising Pathways for Hypertension Care and Control in Low- and Middle-Income Countries.
Brathwaite R; Hutchinson E; McKee M; Palafox B; Balabanova D
2020
International Journal of Health Policy and Management
Nasa dugo ('It's in the blood'): lay conceptions of hypertension in the Philippines.
Lasco G; Mendoza J; Renedo A; Seguin ML; Palafox B; Palileo-Villanueva LM; Amit AML; Dans AL; Balabanova D; McKee M
2020
BMJ Global Health
Connecting communities to primary care: a qualitative study on the roles, motivations and lived experiences of community health workers in the Philippines.
Mallari E; Lasco G; Sayman DJ; Amit AML; Balabanova D; McKee M; Mendoza J; Palileo-Villanueva L; Renedo A; Seguin M
2020
BMC health services research
The household economic burden of non-communicable diseases in 18 countries.
Murphy A; Palafox B; Walli-Attaei M; Powell-Jackson T; Rangarajan S; Alhabib KF; Avezum AJ; Calik KBT; Chifamba J; Choudhury T
2020
BMJ Global Health
Maintaining population health in low- and middle-income countries during the COVID-19 pandemic: Why we should be investing in Community Health Workers.
Palafox B; Renedo A; Lasco G; Palileo-Villanueva L; Balabanova D; McKee M
2020
Tropical medicine & international health : TM & IH
Inequalities in the use of secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease by socioeconomic status: evidence from the PURE observational study.
Murphy A; Palafox B; O'Donnell O; Stuckler D; Perel P; AlHabib KF; Avezum A; Bai X; Chifamba J; Chow CK
2018
The Lancet Global health
Does greater individual social capital improve the management of hypertension? Cross-national analysis of 61 229 individuals in 21 countries.
Palafox B; Goryakin Y; Stuckler D; Suhrcke M; Balabanova D; Alhabib KF; Avezum A; Bahonar A; Bai X; Chifamba J
2017
BMJ global health
Wealth and cardiovascular health: a cross-sectional study of wealth-related inequalities in the awareness, treatment and control of hypertension in high-, middle- and low-income countries.
Palafox B; McKee M; Balabanova D; AlHabib KF; Avezum AJ; Bahonar A; Ismail N; Chifamba J; Chow CK; Corsi DJ
2016
International journal for equity in health
Prices and mark-ups on antimalarials: evidence from nationally representative studies in six malaria-endemic countries.
Palafox B; Patouillard E; Tougher S; Goodman C; Hanson K; Kleinschmidt I; Torres Rueda S; Kiefer S; O'Connell K; Zinsou C
2015
Health policy and planning
Understanding private sector antimalarial distribution chains: a cross-sectional mixed methods study in six malaria-endemic countries.
Palafox B; Patouillard E; Tougher S; Goodman C; Hanson K; Kleinschmidt I; Rueda ST; Kiefer S; O'Connell KA; Zinsou C
2014
PloS one
Good Health at Low Cost 25 years on: lessons for the future of health systems strengthening.
Balabanova D; Mills A; Conteh L; Akkazieva B; Banteyerga H; Dash U; Gilson L; Harmer A; Ibraimova A; Islam Z
2013
Lancet
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