Health Economist
You use economic analysis to decide which health investments will save the most lives – crucial as Africa pursues universal health coverage.
What this life looks like
Healthcare budgets are always limited. Governments must decide which medicines to include in the national formulary, which programmes to fund, how to design insurance systems that protect the poor, how to price medicines, and how to allocate scarce doctors and nurses across a country. These are not just medical questions – they are economic questions. As a Health Economist you apply economic tools and thinking to healthcare, helping governments, NGOs, and health organisations make better decisions about how to allocate limited resources to achieve the best possible health outcomes. You conduct cost-effectiveness analyses showing whether a new treatment is worth its price. You model the economic burden of disease. You evaluate whether universal health coverage programmes are financially sustainable. You analyse the health system financing options that will allow Africa's countries to move towards universal health coverage – the goal that everyone, everywhere, can access the healthcare they need without financial catastrophe. In a continent where every health dollar spent must work as hard as possible, the health economist is essential.
What she actually does
A Health Economist conducts cost-effectiveness and cost-benefit analyses of health interventions, models the disease burden and its economic consequences, analyses health system financing and insurance design, evaluates universal health coverage programmes, assesses the cost impact of new medicines and technologies, advises governments on health budget allocation, conducts research on the economic determinants of health, and contributes to the evidence base for health policy decisions.
Where you can work
| Sector | Places in Africa |
|---|---|
| Government health ministries and finance ministries | Chief Tony Anenih Geriatric Centre (UCH Ibadan) (Nigeria University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH) Geriatrics Unit (Nigeria) |
| International health organisations | SGM Clinic at Life Vincent Pallotti Hospital (South Africa), Africa Institute of Mental and Brain Health (AFRIMEB) Memory Clinic (Kenya) |
| Health policy research institutes | Grace Nursing Care Center (Nigeria), Tafta (The Association for the Aged) (South Africa), Maseru Women Senior Citizens Association (Lesotho) |
| Academic health economics departments | Hospice Africa Uganda (HAU), Island Hospice & Healthcare (Zimbabwe), St. Luke's Hospice (South Africa) |
| Bilateral aid organisations | Wits University Division of Geriatric Medicine (South Africa), UKZN Discipline of Geriatrics (South Africa), University of Nairobi |
| Health consulting firms | Age-in-Action (South Africa), HelpAge International (regional offices), Active Ageing Programme (Golden Games) (South Africa) |
Why it matters in Africa
Africa is actively building universal health coverage systems – a goal that requires sound economic analysis of how to design, finance, and sustain them. Every African country must decide how to allocate its health budget across competing priorities with limited resources. The economic burden of diseases like malaria, HIV, and non-communicable diseases is enormous and affects economic productivity across the continent. Health economists who understand both the economics and the African health context are essential to making these decisions well.
Your pathway in
Economics, Mathematics, and Statistics at secondary school are most important – health economics is a quantitative discipline. A first degree in Economics, Mathematics, or a health science followed by a Master of Science in Health Economics or Health Policy is the typical pathway. Institutions with strong health economics programmes include the University of Cape Town, the University of the Witwatersrand, Makerere University, and a growing number of others across Africa. PhD training is required for academic and senior research roles.
Skills you will need
Technical: Health economic evaluation methods including cost-effectiveness analysis, economic modelling, health system financing analysis, statistical methods, and economic data management. Human: The ability to communicate complex economic analyses clearly to health professionals and policymakers who may not have economics training, comfort with the inherent uncertainty in economic modelling, and the ethical grounding to acknowledge the limitations and assumptions of economic analysis. Digital tools: Statistical software including R, Stata, and Excel modelling, economic simulation tools, health system financing databases, and epidemiological modelling software.
A woman in this field
Prof. Lungiswa Nkonki
South Africa
A leading health economist and Associate Professor at Stellenbosch University. She is a trailblazer in advancing health economics capacity-building in the Global South. Her research focuses on economic evaluations of healthcare interventions, specifically addressing maternal and child health and equity in health systems. She has been instrumental in developing specialized health economics curricula in Africa and serves as a mentor to a new generation of black women scholars in a field historically dominated by the Global North.
Take your first step
Mathematics and Economics are your core subjects at school. Start by reading about universal health coverage – the WHO's World Health Statistics report and the Lancet Global Health journal both have freely accessible articles about health system financing in Africa. If your school has an economics class, treat it seriously – the concepts of opportunity cost, resource allocation, and marginal analysis that you learn there are the foundation of health economics. The idea that every choice in healthcare involves a tradeoff between alternatives is the central insight of the field.