Global investments in research and development are delivering a plethora of new health interventions (drugs, vaccines, diagnostics, health system innovations), but health budgets are constrained. Furthermore, the impact of investments into health systems are often not as easily measured as investments into more narrowly delineated disease interventions. We are applying analytics to generate the evidence to allow policy-makers and funders to target intervention investments for optimal impact, with a particular focus on evaluating health system benefit packages rather than single vertical interventions.
Specific objectives of our research on health systems are:
- Characterising gaps: Using novel data analytics to identify, map and prioritise preventable disease risk worldwide.
- Identifying need: identify where the system is failing to reach those in greatest need in the cascade from risk stratification to prevention, and diagnosis to treatment. Identify technological innovations that can significantly reduce bottlenecks in the cascade.
- Improving access: characterize and understand the individual, community and health system determinants of access to and utilisation of effective interventions or packages of interventions. Identify technological innovations that can significantly reduce bottlenecks in access.
- Evaluating impact: inform the development of electronic medical record systems to enhance disease surveillance and allow robust evaluation of intervention effectiveness.
- Using multiple streams of data, from surveillance, intervention effectiveness, economic modelling, to estimate long-term health and economic impact of interventions, as well as the implications of choosing not to intervene.
See our 2022 annual report for examples of our work.