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Dr Hugh Sharma Waddington

Associate Professor

London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Keppel Street
London
WC1E 7HT
United Kingdom

I am an economist and environmental health specialist, focusing on impact evaluations of development and health programmes using randomised, quasi-experimental and mixed-methods designs, systematic reviews and meta-analysis. At LSHTM I work on the health co-benefits of climate change mitigation with the Pathfinder Initiative, two research projects on Artificial Intelligence in evidence synthesis (Digital Evidence Synthesis Tool INnovation for Yielding Improvements in Climate & Health, DESTINY; Mobilising Evidence through Artificial Intelligence and User-Informed Synthesis, METIUS), evaluating extreme heat inventions in UK residences (HEARTH) and natural experiments of extreme weather adaptation (HPRU3 in Climate Change and Health Security). I work closely with global partners in evaluation and evidence synthesis including the UK Health Security Agency, Campbell South Asia and Cochrane, and am elected Co-Chair of the Campbell Collaboration Climate Solutions Coordinating Group. I am also a Methods Editor with Campbell Systematic Reviews. Previously, I founded the Systematic Reviews Programme and London Office of the International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie), based at London International Development Centre, where I worked for 10 years, and was later seconded to the 3ie Evaluation Office based in New Delhi. I have worked for extended periods at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning in the Government of Rwanda in Kigali, the World Bank's Independent Evaluation Group in Washington, DC, the UK National Audit Office and the Poverty Research Unit at Sussex University. I have conducted assignments for the Asian Development Bank, Dasra Foundation, DFAT, DFID, FCDO, the Economist Intelligence Unit, Global Affairs Canada, the International Finance Corporation, the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Save the Children, Sightsavers, USAID, the Wellcome Trust and the World Health Organization among others. I hold a PhD in Impact Evaluation of Infectious Diseases and Public Health from LSHTM, where I studied under Professors Sandy Cairncross and Edoardo Masset, MA Development Economics from the University of Sussex, and BSc Economics from the University of York.

Affiliations

Department of Population Health
Faculty of Epidemiology and Population Health

Centres

Centre for Evaluation
Centre on Climate Change and Planetary Health
Global Health Economics Centre

Teaching

I am a Module Organiser for Introduction to Health Economics MSc Module (face to face) and Environmental Epidemiology (distance learning). I teach lectures and seminars on Environment, Health and Sustainable Development, and Environmental Epidemiology. 

I currently support three PhD students (Rose NDulu Ndolo, Bhavisha Virendrakumar, Tobias Schuster), regularly supervise MSc students. I am happy to speak to prospective Masters and PhD students.

Research

I am interested in rigorous empirical policy research that answers relevant questions for decision making. The methodological focus of my work includes causal methods of impact evaluation, including randomised field trials and quasi-experimental approaches like discontinuity designs, small-n qualitative impact evaluation methods, the critical assessment of these approaches, systematic reviews, statistical meta-analysis, and the use of theory-based mixed methods more generally. I have produced research on a range of topics including aid effectiveness, climate and health, conflict and atrocity prevention, environmental health (primarily water, sanitation and hygiene), maternal and child health and nutrition, and smallholder agriculture.

Research Area
Behaviour change
Child health
Education
Environmental Health
Impact evaluation
Sanitation
Statistical methods
Systematic reviews
Water
Epidemiology
Mixed methods research
Randomised controlled trials
Disease and Health Conditions
Diarrhoeal diseases
Malnutrition
Infectious diseases
Country
Bangladesh
Ghana
India
Nepal
Rwanda
United Kingdom
Region
South Asia
Sub-Saharan Africa (all income levels)
European Union

Selected Publications

Impact of tree-based interventions in addressing health and wellbeing outcomes in rural low-income and middle-income settings: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
MURAGE, P; ANTON, B; Chiwanga, F; PICETTI, R; Njunge, T; HASSAN, S; WHITMEE, S; FALCONER, J; SHARMA WADDINGTON, H; GREEN, R;
2025
The Lancet. Planetary health
Interventions promoting resilience through climate smart agricultural practices for women farmers: A systematic review.
Saran, A; Singh, S; Gupta, N; Walke, SC; Rao, R; Simiyu, C; Malhotra, S; Mishra, A; Puskur, R; Masset, E; White, H; WADDINGTON, HS;
2024
Campbell systematic reviews
Comparison of COVID-19 Behaviour Change Campaign Ads in Tanzania: Results From a Randomised Controlled Survey-Based Experiment
AUNGER, R; SHAH, V; SHARMA WADDINGTON, H; Mwambuli, K;
2024
Social marketing quarterly
Pathways to a healthy net-zero future: report of the Lancet Pathfinder Commission.
WHITMEE, S; GREEN, R; Belesova, K; HASSAN, S; Cuevas, S; MURAGE, P; PICETTI, R; Clercq-Roques, R; MURRAY, K; FALCONER, J; ANTON, B; REYNOLDS, T; SHARMA WADDINGTON, H; HUGHES, RC; Spadaro, J; Aguilar Jaber, A; Saheb, Y; Campbell-Lendrum, D; Cortés-Puch, M; Ebi, K; Huxley, R; Mazzucato, M; Oni, T; De Paula, N; Peng, G; ... HAINES, A.
2023
Lancet
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