News from the Department

MON 28 DEC 2020

Bright Futures team named World Champions

We are delighted to announce that the UK team Bright Futures won the 2020 World Evaluation Case Competition. The team comprised students from the LSE Department of Health Policy, King's College London and UCL:

Brian Li Han Wong, UCL (PhD)
Marine Delgrange, LSE / LSHTM (MSc HPPF)
Camille Bou, LSE (PhD)
Arush Lal, LSE (PhD)
Ade Adeyemi, King's College London (PhD)

Coach: Dr Mylene Lagarde, LSE

Teams from 16 countries worked on an evaluation case and submitted their analyses. An international panel of judges reviewed the teams’ submissions. Bright Futures (UK) won the title with their "strong and convincing proposal".

Find out more here.

THURS 17 DEC 2020

Clare Wenham recognised on THE "People of the Year: who mattered in Higher Education in 2020"

Dr Clare Wenham, Assistant Professor of Global Health Policy, was recognised by Times Higher Education (THE) as someone who mattered in Higher Education in 2020. Clare appeared alongside esteemed virologists, modellers and Dr Jill Biden.

While Clare was being interviewed live on BBC News about access to testing data in July, her daughter appeared in the background waving a picture of a unicorn and asking for her mother’s opinion on where best to display it. Exhibiting superhuman patience and professionalism, Dr Wenham managed to deal with the situation with good humour and care, and Scarlett was soon happily getting on with her day while leaving her mum to finish the interview.

THE wrote: "For the millions around the world attempting to juggle childcare with working from home, it was a moment that showed them it was OK to be struggling and also spoke to the reality that many women were being acutely affected."

Access the article here.

THURS 10 DEC 2020

Commonwealth Fund publish its 2020 International Health Care System Profiles report

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the central importance of a well-functioning health care system. Nations that ensure affordable, efficient, and equitable access to quality care are at a clear advantage when it comes to mitigating the virus’s destructive power.  

The 2020 edition of International Profiles of Health Care Systems is a resource for learning about health care systems around the world. Edited by Roosa Tikkanen and Robin Osborn of The Commonwealth Fund and Elias Mossialos, Ana Djordjevic, and George Wharton of the LSE, the report includes information on how nations organise, govern, and finance their health systems; efforts to improve quality of care, contain costs, and reduce racial and ethnic disparities; innovations in health care delivery; and other recent reforms.

Access the full report here.

WEDS 25 NOV 2020

LSE and WHO launch platform to promote evidence-informed health policy in the African region

The World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa (AFRO), in collaboration with LSE and the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, has launched a new partnership which will improve generation of evidence on health systems and knowledge transfer in the African region.

The African Health Observatory Platform on Health Systems & Policies (AHOP) will provide a forum for those working on African national and regional health systems to share experiences, and encourage greater use of high-quality evidence by decision makers. The new platform, hosted by AFRO within the integrated African Health Observatory, seeks to strengthen the design and performance of national and regional health systems.

Read the full press release.

WEDS 18 NOV 2020

LSE Health Policy participates in Geneva Health Forum

As part of the Partnership on Health Systems Sustainability and Resilience (PHSSR), Professor Alistair McGuire chaired a panel discussion at the 2020 Geneva Health Forum. The panel of health experts across academia, private and public sectors discussed how we learn from our experiences of COVID-19 and how we can use this knowledge to develop health systems to respond better to future crises. Click here to watch a recording.

The outcomes of this and other sessions from the Geneva Health Forum will feature on the World Economic Forum's COVID Action Platform.

MON 16 NOV 2020

Partnership for Health System Sustainability and Resilience (PHSSR) launch

In collaboration with AstraZeneca and the World Economic Forum (WEF), the LSE Department of Health Policy has launched a partnership which aims to make a significant, lasting contribution to global health, particularly in:

• Health system resilience – the ability of health systems to prevent, mitigate, overcome and rebound stronger from crises, both chronic and acute. This includes the COVID-19 pandemic, natural disasters and the climate emergency.

• Health system sustainability – the ability of these systems to maintain, generate resources and provide services, and learn and improve in their ability to do so.

Click here to find out more about the project.

MON 19 OCT

Evaluating the benefit of new medicines

An innovative new methodology for evaluating the benefits of new medicines has been shown to be an effective support tool following tests by a team of researchers led by health economics and policy experts from the Department of Health Policy at LSE. 

The Advance Value Framework, developed by Aris Angelis and Panos Kanavos of the Department of Health Policy and LSE Health, was tested in practice with decision-makers from different European drug evaluation bodies to measure the benefits of three new prostate cancer drugs. It enabled participants to reflect on certain value dimensions and incorporate these more explicitly in the deliberation process.

Read the press release here and their paper here.

WEDS 14 OCT 2020

Challenges of Social Health Insurance in Low- and Lower-Middle Income Countries

The vast majority of people living in low- and lower-middle income countries (LMICs) where governments are not providing universal health coverage (UHC) and without financial protection coverage, must rely on out-of-pocket payments in cases of health emergencies or serious illness. But how feasible are these recommendations in practice, and do LMIC governments and ministries of health have the tools at hand to raise the funds needed without discounting the potentially large administrative burden of premium collection? The Department's Rocco Friebel and Rebecca Forman, in collaboration with the Center for Global Development and independent researchers, present a project that aims to understand the cost of collecting health insurance contributions, particularly from the informal sector, and its determinants. 

THURS 1 OCT 2020

2019 Spinal Cord Awards

David McDaid and A-La Park from CPEC, together with co-authors Angela Gall, Mariel Purcell and Mark Bacon, have received the Readers’ Choice Award for Best Original Research paper at the  2019 Spinal Cord Awards. Their paper focused on understanding and modelling the economic impact of spinal cord injuries in the United Kingdom.

The Readers’ Choice Awards are determined by the number of downloads of papers in the first six months following publication. 

WEDS 30 SEPT 2020

LockedDown project chosen for LSE Lean Accelerator

The LockedDown project led by the team from LSE Health Policy has been selected for the LSE Lean Accelerator which helps develop innovative ideas into businesses. The team is led by Dr. Leeza Osipenko and supported by two students currently studying on the Executive MSc in Health Economics, Outcomes and Management in Cardiovascular Sciences - Dr. Bernardo Perez and Dr. Sultan Alotaibi - and two of the Department's alumnae - Alexandra Schuster and Kseniia Prudyus.

The project started in April 2020 during the lockdown and collected more than 30k responses in 17 languages from university students and staff about their experiences in the pandemic. With no funding in place, this accomplishment was possible through a large network of volunteers brought together by the team. The LockedDown built a network of 25 university departments from around the world working in health and social policy and received attention from Unesco Higher Education. Congratulations to the team for taking this work forward and exploring commercialisation and social impact frontiers!

FRI 18 SEPT 2020

Department hosts latest European Health Policy Group meeting

On Friday 18 September 2020, the Department hosted an online meeting of the European Health Policy Group (EHPG). The EHPG is a multidisciplinary network that aims to stimulate international collaboration and learning through comparative analysis of changes to health care systems in Europe. The focus of the latest meeting was the impacts of COVID-19 on health and health care systems in Europe. Four papers were presented, followed by a review by the discussant and a group discussion. 

You can find session recordings and slides on our website here.

SUN 30 AUG 2020

Care homes in England had greatest increase in excess deaths at height of the COVID-19 pandemic

A study – co-ordinated from the University of Stirling’s Management School – found that care homes in England recorded a 79 percent increase in excess deaths, compared to 66 percent in Wales, 62 percent in Scotland and 46 percent in Northern Ireland.

Professor David Bell is lead author of the research, which analysed excess deaths in care homes – those above the five-year average – in each country. The findings form part of a larger study offering crucial insights into the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the UK’s care sector. 

The report – ‘COVID-19 mortality and long-term care: a UK comparison’ – is published by the International Long Term Care Policy Network. Co-authors also include the Department's Adelina Comas-Herrera (Care Policy and Evaluation Centre, London School of Economics and Political Science).

You can read the full press release here.

TUES 11 AUG 2020

Unsupported threats from the food and beverage industry on the use of international agreements to combat frontal warning labeling

The food and beverage industry uses international agreements to argue against public policies that are not aligned to its commercial interests. Recently, this tactic has been used to try to block, delay and dilute the implementation of front warning labels in various countries in the Latin American region, including Mexico.

On Tuesday 11 August, the Department's Pepita Barlow joined a panel of international and national experts at an event to discuss their research in this area to identify recommendations and solutions to this issue.

You can watch a recording of the event here.

TUES 11 AUG 2020

Elias Mossialos named Scientific Advisor of the Pan-European Commission on Health and Sustainable Development

The WHO Regional Office for Europe is convening a Pan-European Commission on Health and Sustainable Development to rethink policy priorities in the light of pandemics. The Commission will be chaired by Professor Mario Monti, President of Bocconi University and former Prime Minister of Italy and a former European Commissioner. Professor Elias Mossialos will be Scientific Advisor. 

The Commission will be composed of former heads of states and governments, distinguished life scientists and economists, heads of health and social care institutions, and leaders of the business community and financial institutions.

WEDS 10 JUNE 2020

How Health Care Works Around the World: New and Updated Profiles of Health Care Systems

For a decade, the Commonwealth Fund and the London School of Economics have collaborated to produce the International Profiles of Health Care Systems that show how health systems across the world are organized. 

We are delighted to announce the release of the 2020 profiles, which feature 20 countries across North and South America, Europe, Asia and Australasia. While the profiles do not directly address pandemic preparedness, they do offer context for understanding how countries have responded to COVID-19.

Click here to view the profiles.

TUES 26 MAY 2020

High cost of new cancer drugs in US not related to their effectiveness shows international comparison by LSE

The high costs of recently licensed cancer medicines in the United States –  as compared with those in Australia, France and the UK -  do not translate into improved survival, quality of life, or safety for patients, according to new research from LSE's Department of Health Policy.

The paper, published in the journal Social Science and Medicine shows that in the US, new drugs cost, in their first year of marketing, on average, US$68,255 per each patient’s course of treatment. This makes them between 1.2 and 1.9 times more expensive than in Australia, France and the UK where costs average US$35,499, US$35,114, and US$55,616 respectively.

Click here for the full story.

TUES 28 APR 2020

LSE global initiative to capture experience of university students and staff during COVID-19 pandemic

The LockedDown survey will capture how measures to combat the pandemic are affecting staff and students’ educational, professional and financial lives, as well as their wellbeing - socially, mentally and physically. This will include the effect of the different types of actions which have been implemented internationally and their impact in different cultural, social and economic circumstances.

The survey takes just five minutes to complete and is available at https://www.healthbit.com/the-lockeddown/.  A version of the survey can also be taken by members of the wider public.

Click here for the full story.

TUE 17 MAR 2020

Former EU Commissioner Christos Stylianides to join LSE Department of Health Policy

Christos Stylianides, a former EU Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management and EU Ebola Coordinator, has been appointed a Visiting Professor in Practice at LSE’s Department of Health Policy.   

Mr Stylianides will take up the position from Monday, 16th March. As Visiting Professor in Practice he will play an active part in the Department, delivering lectures to students and the public, participating in expert workshops as well as undertaking his own work.

Click here for the full story.

TUE 03 MAR 2020

How much do drug companies spend on research and development to bring a new medicine to market?

This study provides an estimate of research and development costs for new therapeutic agents based on publicly available data; differences from previous studies may reflect the spectrum of products analyzed and the restricted availability of data in the public domain.

Full release here.

TUE 03 MAR 2020

How much money did the pharmaceutical and health product industry spend on lobbying and campaign contributions in the US from 1999 to 2018? 

Read the full paper published by Jama here. 

THU 28 NOV 2019

NHS stretched as it is challenged to meet similar needs of EU and OECD countries with less staff

Fewer doctors and nurses means the NHS goes above and beyond managing to treat similar numbers of patients while maintaining good level of access in this paper by LSE Health Policy’s Irini Papanicolas, Elias Mossialos and collaborators.

While mortality rates for certain conditions like strokes & AML are going down, they are higher comparators – suggesting more progress needs to be made.

Read the paper here.      

MON 25 NOV 2019

First evaluation of European Medicines Agency’s (EMA) Priority Medicines Scheme (PRIME), a new program aimed at getting promising medicines for severe conditions to market quickly.

The paper, by LSE Health Policy’s Huseyin Naci, Emilie Neez and collaborators, examines the evidence base on which EMA determines PRIME eligibility. The paper has various interesting conclusions including, ‘EMA relies on weak study designs to determine eligibility of drugs in PRIME’.

Read the paper here.

WED 30 OCT 2019

Could much touted virtual primary care (VPC) services lead to the fragmentation of the health system?

Virtual primary care (VPC) services, in which patients consult with a doctor or nurse via email, text, phone, or video are presumed to offer a number of advantages over traditional, brick-and-mortar general practitioner (GP) services, particularly in terms of accessibility and cost. However, evidence of their effect on clinical outcomes and quality of care is scant. 

Read full paper here.

TUE 22 OCT 2019

Lifetime Achievement Award honours contributions to health and social welfare

We are proud to announce the creation of the Brian Abel-Smith Lifetime Achievement Award to honour the work of the influential social welfare pioneer. The award will recognise individuals who, like Abel-Smith, have during their lifetime made a significant intellectual contribution to the field of health policy and social welfare and achieved notable policy impact. 

Recipients of the biennial award will receive a prize of £10,000 and deliver an award lecture at the LSE. 

Read full article here.

THU 17 OCT 2019

New study tests in practice a new emerging methodology for measuring the benefits of new drugs with national decision-makers.

Two years ago Aris Angelis and Panos Kanavos published the development of the Advance Value Framework for HTA. Following a collaboration with TLV, AETSA, AOTMiT and INAMI under the auspices of the EU Advance-HTA project, they have just published its empirical testing with decision-makers from different countries, describing a full MCDA cross-country pilot (open access, uncorrected proof version).

Read the study here.

FRI 11 OCT 2019

Does the World Bank’s pandemic financing scheme serve private sector interests at the cost of global health security?

LSE Department of Health and Policy's Bangin Brim and Clare Wenham contend that the World Bank’s pandemic financing scheme serves private sector interests at the cost of global health security. The Ebola outbreak in west Africa in 2014-16 exposed many flaws in the global response to infectious disease.12 In particular, it highlighted the gap between countries’ commitments for outbreak preparedness, detection, and response, as required under the International Health Regulations, and their actual ability to respond when needed.

Read the full article here.

FRI 04 OCT 2019

Does blockchain have the potential to improve clinical trials?

Leeza Osipenko argues that there’s more to this tamperproof technology than bitcoin in her article for The BMJ. It could be used to improve the administration of clinical trials, ensuring transparency and yielding better quality data.

Read the article here.

FRI 04 OCT 2019

What constitues good governance in antimicrobial (AMR) resistance?

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is one of the major challenges facing the world today. The drivers behind AMR lie across multiple sectors. Therefore, strengthening governance is essential. A new paper published by Michael Anderson, Elias Mossialos and colleagues from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) in The Lancet Infectious Diseases, presents the development of the first example of a published AMR governance framework. This tool offers practice guidance to countries seeking to strengthen governance and can be used for both the development and assessment of national action plans on AMR.

Read the article here.

FRI 04 OCT 2019

Bernie Sanders references 2018 Health Affairs policy by Elias Mossialos and Martin Wenzl 

The Sanders campaign referenced and linked to the study following his recent stent operation. The study contends that prices for cardiac implant devices may be up to six times higher in the US than in some european countries. 

Read the article here. 

FRI 30 AUG 2019

Eurohealth: Digital Health Systems

The latest edition of Eurohealth focuses on Digital Health Systems, with articles on policy to support AI, secondary use of personal health data, digital health driven prevention and case studies from the UK, Israel, Estonia, Denmark & Kazakhstan.

Read it here.

MON 12 AUG 2019

Why your healthcare costs so much

Healthcare spending in the US is much higher than other countries with similar economies. In this TEDMED 2018 talk, Irene Papanicolas explains why taking a comparative approach reveals new insights into the factors that influence spending.

Watch it here.

FRI 9 AUG 2019

The implications of high bed occupancy rates on readmission rates in England: A longitudinal study

The percentage of hospital beds that are occupied at any one point in time has increased in England, though little research has examined the impact of this change. A new paper, published in Health Policy by Rocco Friebel and colleagues, finds that following nights of high bed occupancy rates, more patients are being discharged with a small increase in the risk of readmission within 30 days. Hospitals are, however, successfully prioritising early discharge amongst least vulnerable patients.

Read it here.

WED 7 AUG 2019

Securitizing Zika: The case of Brazil

In a new article in Security Dialogue, Clare Wenham and Deborah BL Farias explore how Zika provides new opportunities for understanding global health security and securitization more broadly.

Read it here.  

THU 18 JUL 2019

Dr Laia Maynou wins best paper presented by a young researcher at the 2019 Spanish Health Economics Association Meeting

The creep of the robots, written with Alistair McGuire, Victoria Serra-Sastre and Georgia Troutman, draws on data on prostatectomy for England to explore how robotic-assisted surgery is diffused throughout the NHS and the effects of this new technology on health outcomes.

Read the abstract.

WED 17 JUL 2019

People are struggling to save for social care: LSE research

People find saving for social care too difficult and feel the current system needs an overhaul, a recent study published in Health and Social Care has found.

Read more.

WED 17 JUL 2019

Healthy Minds: the positive impact of a new school curriculum

As the UK government prepares to make personal, social, health and economic education compulsory, a recent trial shows how these subjects can be taught successfully. In an article for CentrePiece, Grace Lordan and Alistair McGuire evaluate the effects of Healthy Minds – a new four-year curriculum for secondary schools – on physical health, emotional health and behaviour.

Read it here.

FRI 12 JUL 2019

Meeting SDG3: The role of economics in mental health policy

A chapter in The Routledge Handbook of International Development, Mental Health and Wellbeing explores the economic impacts and drivers of mental health issues, approaches to measuring cost-effectiveness, and how various methods can inform decision-makers in meeting the Sustainable Development Goals in the context of mental health.

Read it here.

WED 10 JUL 2019

Effectiveness of interventions for dementia in low- and middle-income countries

Despite dementia placing a significant burden on societies in lower and middle-income countries, recommendations for interventions are largely based on evidence from high income countries. A new paper in the British Medical Journal outlines an approach for filling this evidence gap.

Read it here. 

WED 12 JUNE 2019

LSE launches the Department of Health Policy with Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr Denis Mukwege

On 30 April, LSE formally marked the launch of the Department of Health Policy with an all-day event in the Old Theatre. The event attracted an impressive array of speakers, including the 2018 winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, Dr Denis Mukwege.

Read it here.

TUE 14th MAY 2019

Education may not be the solution to reducing female genital cutting

New research by the LSE and University of South Florida has found no evidence that an increase in the education levels of mothers in Nigeria changed the likelihood of them supporting the practice of female genital cutting, or their daughters being victims of it.

Read more here.

THU 14 MAR 2019

An EU-wide approach to HTA: An irrelevant development or an opportunity not to be missed?

Editorial on proposed new EU-wide cooperation on Health Technology Assessment (HTA) in the European Journal of Health Economics by Dr Panos Kanavos and Dr Aris Angelis. 

Read it here.

FRI 8 MAR 2019

Dr Aduragbemi Banke-Thomas wins grant from AXA Research Fund

Dr Banke-Thomas has been awarded €125,000 for a project on timely and quality access to emergency obstetric care in Sub-Saharan Africa. 

Read more here.

WED 6 MAR 2019

Big Data, Algorithmic Governmentality and the Regulation of Pandemic Risk

Dr Stephen L Roberts investigates the rise of algorithmic disease surveillance systems as novel technologies of risk analysis used to regulate pandemic outbreaks in an era of big data. 

Read more here.

MON 4 MAR 2019

Investing in health R&D: where we are, what limits us, and how to make progress in Africa

Global R&D pipelines for diseases that disproportionately affect African countries appear to be inadequate.

Read more here. 

WED 27 FEB 2019

Cuban healthcare offers many lessons for global health security

Cuba has never been seen as leading in health security, yet the country’s medical internationalism and integrated healthcare system have proved remarkably successful in preventing and controlling infectious-disease threats. 

Read more here.  

TUE 26 FEB 2019 

Perspectives of stakeholders on emergency obstetric care training in Kenya: a qualitative study

The value of emergency obstetric care training in improving the capacity of health care providers and outcomes for mothers and newborns is not just ascribed but felt by beneficiaries.

Read more here.  

THU 14 FEB 2019

Health related quality of life aspects not captured by EQ-5D-5L

New international study shows that 51% of patients don’t feel that existing Health Related Quality of Life tool sufficiently captures problems such as fatigue and medication side effects.

Read more here. 

FRI 8 FEB 2019

Experts call for different methods to tackle inequality in global health

Engaging with feminist theory and feminist research is vital to diminish the structural barriers women face in the global health agenda, new comment in The Lancet co-authored by LSE's Dr Clare Wenham shows.

Read more here.

THU 7 FEB 2019

New research on how organ donation is affected by drug-related deaths in the United States

Article co-authored by Dr Sara Machado explores trends and statewide variation in the number of donor organs recovered from people who have died from drug intoxication. 

Read more here.

TUE 29 JAN 2019

New research on the social return on investment of emergency obstetric care training in Kenya

Using social return on investment methodology, Dr Adura Banke-Thomas asesses the social impact and/or value for money of emergency obstetric care training in Kenya.  

Read more here.

FRI 25 JAN 2019

The Global Fund must back up impact claims with transparent, rigorous methods

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria asserts they and their partners have saved 27 million lives—but more rigorous evidence and data is needed to back-up that claim, according to a new analysis published in The Lancet this week.

Read more here.

THU 24 JAN 2019

New research on the impact of the Greek economic adjustment programme on household health expenditure

What happened to spending on health in Greek households when they experienced the “triple hit” of decreased availability and capacity of the public health system, increased user charges, and lower ability to pay for health care?

Read more here. 

TUE 14 JAN 2019

LSE Health Policy research makes Editor's Pick for 2018

An article comparing prices for cardiac implants between the US and Europe by Professor Elias Mossialos was among the Editor-In-Chief of Health Affairs' top picks for 2018.

Read more here. 

MON 13 JAN 2019

Global health security and universal health coverage: from a marriage of convenience to a strategic, effective partnership

Global health security and universal health coverage have often been considered two sides of the same coin. But is this really true?

Read more here.