Equity in Financing Global Cancer Care?
The Global Surgery Policy Unit invites you to an engaging evening exploring one of the most pressing challenges in global health: how to finance equitable access to cancer care.
As part of London Global Cancer Week 2026, this event will bring together leading experts in surgery, health policy and health systems research to discuss the opportunities and challenges of financing cancer care in low- and middle-income countries.
Speakers will examine inequities in breast cancer care in Zimbabwe, explore different approaches to financing global cancer services, consider the role of public financing in achieving universal cancer care, and discuss the risks of corruption and unintended consequences within health financing systems. The event will conclude with an audience Q&A, offering an opportunity to engage with key issues at the intersection of cancer care, equity and health financing.
Meet the speakers, chair, and moderator
Prof Dina Balabanova is Professor of Health Systems and Policy at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, with over 25 years of experience in research on governance, effective delivery models (particularly for non-communicable diseases), and health systems strengthening and resilience. She led the Rockefeller Foundation-funded Good Health at Low Cost 25 Years On programme, which examined why some countries have achieved major advances in population health and access to care compared with others at similar levels of income. In recent years, she has led research exploring the structural and institutional drivers of poor health sector governance, as well as politically feasible solutions. She was a co-founding Board Member of Health Systems Global (2012-18) and co-founded its thematic working group, Action on Accountability and Anti-Corruption for Achieving the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. Dina is currently Co-Chair of The Lancet Global Health Commission on Anti-Corruption in Health and serves on the WHO Science Council, advising the WHO Director-General.
Mr Richard Rainsbury is a surgeon, an innovator and an educator. He worked as a consultant surgeon for 30 years and was the driving force behind the development of oncoplastic breast surgery in the UK. Working together with plastic surgeons he developed the TIG Oncoplastic Fellowships in 2002. He was Foundation tutor in Breast surgery at RCSEng, President of the Association of Breast Surgeons 2011-2013, and co-founder of the International Forum of ABS. He has devoted much of his time to projects to improve breast cancer services in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Mr Robert Yates is a political health economist specializing in universal health coverage (UHC) and progressive health financing. He is a Visiting Professor in Practice at the LSE and an Honorary Associate Professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Between 2019 and 2024 he was the Executive Director of the Centre for Universal Health at Chatham House and was previously a long-term consultant to The Elders on their universal health programme. He has special expertise in the political economy of UHC, with a focus on advising political leaders and government ministries on how to plan, finance and implement national UHC reforms. He has previously worked as a senior health economist with the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) and the World Health Organisation, advising numerous governments in Asia, Africa and Europe on health financing policy and health systems reforms
Dr Martilord Ifeanyichi is a medical doctor, a health systems economist and a pharmacoeconomist. He is an Assistant Professorial Research Fellow at the LSE. A GMC-licensed doctor, he holds an Honorary Clinical Fellowship Appointment in General Surgery and Urology in the UK National Health Service. He is the Founder and Executive Director of the African Centre for Health Economics and Policy Research (ACHEPoR), Enugu, Nigeria. His research interest lies in the economics and dynamic complexities of surgical systems in LMICs. In addition to MBSS, Dr Martilord holds an MSc in Health Economics, policy and Law from Erasmus University Rotterdam, a PhD in global Health economics from Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands, and another MSc in Health Data Science from the LSE.
Dr Rocco Friebel is Associate Professor of Health Policy and Deputy Director of LSE Health. He directs the Global Surgery Policy Unit (an LSE–Royal College of Surgeons of England partnership) and founded the WHO Collaborating Centre for Health Policy and Impact of Integrated Emergency, Critical, and Operative Care at LSE. In 2025–26 he was a Harkness Fellow at Columbia University and Brown University. His research applies econometric evaluation to health system delivery and quality of care, spanning healthcare regulation, health system strengthening, patient safety, and global surgery. His work appears in Health Affairs, The Lancet, and Social Science and Medicine, and is funded by the NIHR, AHRQ, Elrha, and Global Health Partnerships.
Miss Rachel Hargest is a Senior Clinical Lecturer at the University of Cardiff, Consultant Surgeon, and Co-Director of the Global Surgery Policy Unit. She has recently been appointed as joint head of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Health Policy and Impact of Integrated Emergency, Critical and Operative care based at GSPU. She is a RCSEng Council member and former trustee of the Royal College of Surgeons of England and Royal Society of Medicine. She has won multiple awards for excellence in both clinical practice (BMJ Gastroenterology team of the year award, NHS Wales award for improving patient care) and training (Silver Scalpel, FST Medal). She is past president of the Welsh Surgical Society and the Royal Society of Medicine Section of Surgery and president of the Travelling Surgical Society.
About the Global Surgery Policy unit
The GSPU is a unique and strategic collaboration between LSE Health and the Royal College of Surgeons of England (RCS England). Established to advance global public health, surgical, obstetric and anaesthesia care, with a focus on low- and middle-income countries, the goal of the GSPU is to strengthen and contribute to the evidence-base for global surgical care through policy research and dialogue, capacity-building partnerships and advocacy initiatives aimed at informing decision-makers and empowering communities.
Learn more about the GSPU's work.
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