My Expertise
Health Economics, Public Health and Health Services - A system wide analysis of health financing equity in Cambodia, Efficacy and cost-effectiveness of long-lasting microbial larvicides for malaria mosquito control and Sustainable Health Financing in Fiji and Timor-Leste (Shift Study).
Fields of Research (FoR)
Health Economics, Public Health and Health ServicesSEO tags
Biography
Virginia has researched and published widely in the fields of health economics and health systems, primarily in low- and middle-income countries. She is Professor of Health Economics and Health Systems at the Kirby Institute (Faculty of Medicine, UNSW) and at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (Department of Global Health and Development). She leads the Health Economics Research Network (HERN) at UNSW, a cross-Faculty...view more
Virginia has researched and published widely in the fields of health economics and health systems, primarily in low- and middle-income countries. She is Professor of Health Economics and Health Systems at the Kirby Institute (Faculty of Medicine, UNSW) and at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (Department of Global Health and Development). She leads the Health Economics Research Network (HERN) at UNSW, a cross-Faculty Initiative for generating, reviewing, and disseminating evidence and information on health economics. Virginia has been awarded +$49m in research funding over her career to lead major studies in two key areas: (1) impact evaluations of complex public health interventions in the areas of malaria, HIV and STIs, TB, Hepatitis C and antimicrobial resistance; and (2) the evaluation of health financing systems to support universal health coverage. She is co-chief editor of Health Policy and Planning and on the board of the International Health Economics Association. Virginia has continuing involvement in supporting capacity development in health economics and health systems in low and middle income country universities and research institutions.
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Publications
ORCID as entered in ROS
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7911-0741
Research Activities
Universal health coverage (UHC), which implies all people have access to needed services without the risk of financial ruin, has become a major goal for health reform in many countries. Fiji and Timor Leste are currently seeking to modify their financing systems so they can move more quickly to UHC and to maintain it once it has been achieved. Taking a ‘systems wide’ approach, that includes both public and private sectors, the SHIFT team will provide much needed evidence on the current equity of health-system financing and service use in these countries. This will primarily be…
In the past decade, massive scale-up of insecticide-treated nets (ITN) and indoor residual spraying (IRS), together with the introduction of artemisinin-combination treatments, have led to substantial reductions in malaria prevalence and incidence in African highlands. However, rising insecticide resistance and increased outdoor transmission have greatly hampered the effectiveness of ITN and IRS because the current indoor-based interventions do not target the outdoor-biting mosquitoes. Consequently, most highland sites maintain sustained low-level transmission while some others have…
The pursuit of universal health care coverage needs to be informed by an understanding of how equitable the current health financing arrangements are. The financing mechanism is equitable if:
- The burden of health care payments is distributed in line with ability to pay.
- The benefits from healthcare spending are distributed according to need for health services.
This study represents the first attempt to quantify financing and benefit incidence for the entire health system of Cambodia. Benefit and financing incidence analyses can be very useful…