In her interview, Nouria shares her motivation for returning to LSHTM after completing her MSc Health Policy, Planning and Financing and her hopes for the future of her research.
What is your background?
I’m from Algeria. I studied Economics & Finance as a BA and worked in finance for 5 years before deciding it was not for me! I then completed an MSc in Development Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) whilst working at Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and another in Health Policy, Planning and Financing at LSHTM whilst working for Save the Children. I worked for 8 years as a consultant with low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) after that. I am a policy person rather than a pure researcher, although most of my work at MSF, Save the Children and later at Oxford Policy Management (OPM), where I was consultant, did focus on research.
What drew you to studying at LSHTM?
The reputation of the university and its fantastic people is what drew me back to the university after my master’s, as well as the opportunity to work on a two-year research project that was exactly focused on my area of expertise: health financing.
What other activities are you working on?
Aside from doing a PhD by prior publication, I work on the Lancet Global Health Commission on Financing Primary Health Care (PHC). The report provides evidence-based recommendations for LMICs to design their health financing arrangements in ways that place people at the centre and address inequities first. My specific research areas include: revenue raising and pooling approaches for PHC in LMICs; resource allocation of health spending to PHC in LMICs; impact of health crises on financing of PHC; and incentive structures for providers in LMICs.
Where do you see your research going in the future?
I would like to continue supporting countries in their progress towards universal health coverage (UHC), so I hope to contribute to research on any of the key health financing functions. I strongly believe that research must be geared towards finding solutions to problems countries face, hence I would like to bridge the gap between research and practice.
What were three words sum up your time at LSHTM so far?
Learning, supportive, exciting.
Do you have any advice for prospective students?
Make sure you know why you are studying, what you will do with what you have learnt? There is, in my view, no greater inspiration that knowing that all this accumulated knowledge will be useful.
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