My applied economic evaluation work focuses on sub-Saharan Africa, where I am involved in studies of interventions to tackle malaria and neglected tropical diseases and to improve reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health (RMNCH). I work on both non-randomized evaluations and (individually- or cluster-) randomised trials. I am interested in multidisciplinary evaluation of health interventions, and am particularly interested in transferability of economic evaluation evidence, conceptual modelling, community health workers, health systems, geographical targeting, disease elimination, and improving methods for cost data collection and analysis. I previously coordinated economic evaluation work within the Department of Global Health & Development, and led a supplement in Health Economics called Economic evaluations in low- and middle-income countries: Methodological issues and challenges for priority setting. My PhD focused on economic evaluations of malaria interventions and sought to improve methods for increasing the transferability of findings across contexts.

My second area of research concerns methods for tracking donor financing, with a focus on how to estimate aid for specific areas of health. As part of the Countdown initiative, I have led in-depth research comparing methods for tracking aid for RMNCH and collaborated with the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health to develop new, harmonized methods to promote accountability and facilitate advocacy efforts - Muskoka2. In collaboration with Saving Newborn Lives, I have also developed methods to track aid for prenatal and neonatal health.

In both my areas of work, I am interested in questions of equity and efficiency and how such evidence can contribute towards explicit priority-setting.

Current research projects include:

The Plus Project: Programmatic scale-up of perennial malaria chemoprevention for children under 2 in 4 countries (Mozambique, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, Benin), with evaluation activities in 7 countries, funded by Unitaid.

SHARP: Skin Health Africa Reserach Programme in Ethiopia and Ghana, funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR).

OMWaNA: Operationalizing Kangaroo Mother Care before stabilisation amongst low birth weight neonates in Africa, a cluster-randomized trial in Ugandan hospitals funded by the Joint Global Health Trials Scheme (MRC and others).

Health Financing Data Analysis Centre for the Countdown to 2030, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the UK Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).


I currently supervise research degree students working on the cost-effectiveness of interventions to tackle malaria (Katie Snyman & David Bath), and formally mentor a fellowship-holder (Dr Ian Ross) working on the economics of hygiene interventions.

I am also an Associate Editor for the Wiley journal, Health Economics.