Staff Reporter
A NEW research grant awarded to the Centre for Health Economics (CHE) Thanzi Programme will expand health systems research and capacity-building initiatives into Namibia and Zambia, strengthening regional collaboration on universal health coverage, health financing, and policy development across Southern and Eastern Africa.
The grant, funded by The Life You Can Save (TLYCS), supports the Thanzi Konse (Health Everywhere) project, which builds on the wider Thanzi Programme’s ongoing work to improve health system strengthening and health economics capacity across several African countries, including Eswatini, The Gambia, Ghana, Malawi, Senegal, Uganda and Zimbabwe.
Through the new phase, the programme will extend its partnerships to Namibia and Zambia, working closely with the Ministry of Health and Social Services in Namibia, the Ministry of Health in Zambia, the University of Namibia, the University of Zambia, and the East, Central and Southern Africa Health Community (ECSA-HC). The collaboration aims to ensure that research is closely aligned with national priorities and directly informs policymaking.
PICTURED: Dr Juliet Nabyonga of WHO Namibia Country Office speaking at the ECSA-HC HE-COP workshop in Kigali (December 2025). Photo: University of York
In Namibia, a key focus of the project is supporting progress towards Universal Health Coverage (UHC) by assessing how the country’s Essential Health Services Package can be implemented within existing constraints such as limited budgets, workforce shortages and infrastructure gaps. The research will also produce policy tools to help identify system bottlenecks, evaluate health financing arrangements including medical aid schemes such as PSEMAS, and address inequalities in healthcare access between urban and rural regions.
In Zambia, the Thanzi Konse project will support the development of Health Technology Assessment (HTA) capacity, working with government stakeholders to strengthen evidence-based decision-making in health workforce planning, priority-setting and financing. The initiative also aims to develop a roadmap towards establishing a dedicated Health Economics and Policy or HTA unit, drawing on successful models implemented in other countries under the Thanzi Programme.
Regionally, the project will continue to support the ECSA Health Economics Community of Practice, including plans to host an in-person meeting in 2026 to bring together policymakers and researchers to exchange knowledge on health financing reform and universal health coverage implementation.
The grant marks a significant expansion of the Thanzi Programme’s footprint and further strengthens collaboration between African institutions and international partners. Building on more than a decade of work in applied health economics, the programme is widely recognised for its contribution to health system strengthening and evidence-based policy development in low- and middle-income countries.
