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Professor Timothy Powell-Jackson

MSc PhD

Professor
of Health Economics

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

I am Professor of Health Economics in the Department of Global Health and Development and Co-Director of the Global Health Economics Centre. I have over 15 years of research experience working in low- and middle-income countries, applying an economics lens to the understanding of how health systems work and how they can perform better.

I first developed an interest in health economics while working at the Ministry of Health, Rwanda on a two-year placement with the Overseas Development Institute Fellowship Scheme. I did my doctorate at LSHTM, spending two years in Nepal carrying out research as part of a UK government-funded project evaluating a national maternal health financial incentive programme.

Much of my work involves the evaluation of policies that seek to increase patient demand for healthcare or improve the quality of care. I work on topics ranging from health financing and provider payment reforms to management practices and the private sector. My research has been published in medical journals as well as health and development economics journals.

I was recently a member of two commissions: the WHO-UNICEF-Lancet Commission "A future for the world's children?" and the Lancet Global Health Commission on financing primary health care: putting people at the centre.

Affiliations

Faculty of Public Health and Policy
Department of Global Health and Development

Centres

Centre for Evaluation
Centre for Maternal Adolescent Reproductive & Child Health (MARCH)
Global Health Economics Centre

Teaching

I am Module Organiser of the term one module, Introduction to Health Economics. I also teach on other modules, including Economic Analysis of Health Policy and Evaluation of Public Health Interventions.

I am a tutor for students and Deputy Chair of the Exam Board for the MSc Health Policy, Planning, and Financing, run jointly by LSE and LSHTM.

Research

Publications are listed below. See also Google Scholar.

My research uses insights and methods from economics to study a wide range of questions concerning health systems in low- and middle-income countries. I have a keen interest in financial incentives, impact evaluation, the economic consequences of ill health, equity in health financing, maternal and newborn health and, more broadly, the interaction between health and development.

My PhD research was based on an evaluation of a nationwide financial incentive programme for maternal health in Nepal. This interest in financial incentives - both demand and supply-side - has continued with research in India, China, Tanzania and Brazil.

Current and recent research projects include: 1) Understanding and enhancing approaches to quality improvement in small and medium-sized private facilities in sub-Saharan Africa, funded by the Health Systems Research Initiative; 2) Lancet Global Health Commission on primary health care financing; 3) Equi-PMAQ, a MRC-funded health systems research project on pay-for-performance in Brazil; 4) IMPRESS, an NIHR-funded project on the role of hospital management in improving quality of care for small and sick newborns in Malawi; and 5) NEST360.

I supervise PhD students with an interest in health systems research in low- and middle-income countries, strong quantitative skills and a background in economics. My current doctoral students are: Henry Cust, Muntaqa Umar-Sadiq, Jennifer Ljungqvist, Rym Ghouma (submitted), Camilla Fabbri (submitted), Stephen Dorgan, and Charlotte Ward.

Research Area
Child health
Complex interventions
Health care financing
Health impact analysis
Health services research
Health systems
Maternal health
Primary care
Quality improvement
Statistical methods
Health workers
Behaviour change
Equity
Impact evaluation
Inequalities
Neonatal health
Randomised controlled trials
Discipline
Health economics
Economics
Country
Bangladesh
Brazil
China
Ghana
India
Kenya
Laos
Malawi
Nepal
Rwanda
Tunisia
Tanzania
Region
Latin America & Caribbean (developing only)
Latin America & Caribbean (all income levels)
South Asia
Sub-Saharan Africa (developing only)
Sub-Saharan Africa (all income levels)

Selected Publications

Performance bonuses and the quality of primary health care delivered by family health teams in Brazil: A difference-in-differences analysis.
Fardousi N; Nunes da Silva E; Kovacs R; Borghi J; Barreto JOM; Kristensen SR; Sampaio J; Shimizu HE; Gomes LB; Russo LX
2022
PLoS Medicine
The Lancet Global Health Commission on financing primary health care: putting people at the centre.
Hanson K; Brikci N; Erlangga D; Alebachew A; De Allegri M; Balabanova D; Blecher M; Cashin C; Esperato A; Hipgrave D
2022
The Lancet Global health
Pushy Patients Or Pushy Providers? Effect Of Patient Knowledge On Antibiotic Prescribing In Tanzania.
King J; Powell-Jackson T; Hargreaves J; Makungu C; Goodman C
2022
Health affairs (Project Hope)
Socioeconomic inequalities in the quality of primary care under Brazil's national pay-for-performance programme: a longitudinal study of family health teams.
Kovacs R; Maia Barreto JO; da Silva EN; Borghi J; Kristensen SR; Costa DRT; Bezerra Gomes L; Gurgel GD; Sampaio J; Powell-Jackson T
2021
The Lancet. Global health
A future for the world's children? A WHO-UNICEF-Lancet Commission.
Clark H; Coll-Seck AM; Banerjee A; Peterson S; Dalglish SL; Ameratunga S; Balabanova D; Bhan MK; Bhutta ZA; Borrazzo J
2020
Lancet
Infection prevention and control compliance in Tanzanian outpatient facilities: a cross-sectional study with implications for the control of COVID-19.
Powell-Jackson T; King JJC; Makungu C; Spieker N; Woodd S; Risha P; Goodman C
2020
The Lancet. Global health
Measuring management practices in India's district public health bureaucracy.
Powell-Jackson T; Purohit B; Saxena D; Golechha M; Fabbri C; Ganguly PS; Hanson K
2018
Social Science and Medicine
Progress and challenges in maternal health in western China: a Countdown to 2015 national case study.
Gao Y; Zhou H; Singh NS; Powell-Jackson T; Nash S; Yang M; Guo S; Fang H; Alvarez MM; Liu X
2017
The Lancet Global health
Effect of a multifaceted social franchising model on quality and coverage of maternal, newborn, and reproductive health-care services in Uttar Pradesh, India: a quasi-experimental study.
Tougher S; Dutt V; Pereira S; Haldar K; Shukla V; Singh K; Kumar P; Goodman C; Powell-Jackson T
2017
The Lancet Global health
Doctor Competence and the Demand for Healthcare: Evidence from Rural China.
Fe E; Powell-Jackson T; Yip W
2016
Health economics
A pragmatic way forward?
Powell-Jackson T
2016
Science (New York, NY)
Cash transfers, maternal depression and emotional well-being: Quasi-experimental evidence from India's Janani Suraksha Yojana programme.
Powell-Jackson T; Pereira SK; Dutt V; Tougher S; Haldar K; Kumar P
2016
Social science & medicine (1982)
Financial incentives in health: New evidence from India's Janani Suraksha Yojana.
Powell-Jackson T; Mazumdar S; Mills A
2015
Journal of health economics
Capitation combined with pay-for-performance improves antibiotic prescribing practices in rural China.
Yip W; Powell-Jackson T; Chen W; Hu M; Fe E; Hu M; Jian W; Lu M; Han W; Hsiao WC
2014
Health affairs (Project Hope)
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
Who benefits from free healthcare? Evidence from a randomized experiment in Ghana
Powell-Jackson T; Hanson K; Whitty CJM; Ansah EK
2013
Journal of development economics
Financial incentives for maternal health: impact of a national programme in Nepal.
Powell-Jackson T; Hanson K
2011
Journal of health economics
Countdown to 2015: tracking donor assistance to maternal, newborn, and child health.
Powell-Jackson T; Borghi J; Mueller DH; Patouillard E; Mills A
2006
Lancet
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