University of Zambia, Department of Economics

The University of Zambia, in Lusaka, is a center of excellence in higher education, providing quality education, research, and scholarly programs for strategic human resource development. The university promotes national and regional development through relevant and appropriate partnerships.

The Department of Economics of the University of Zambia (UNZA) is the primary academic partner in Zambia for IHME’s Malaria Control Policy Assessment being conducted in the country.

As of 2010, members of the team from the university serve as the local principal investigator for the project and play a key role in navigating local networks, identifying and obtaining data relevant to the project, and interpreting data and results.

As of 2011, UNZA and IHME are collaborating to collect and analyze the costs and constraints of the nation’s health system. A team assembled by UNZA will undertake data collection in a representative sample of health facilities across the country.

This project also collects specific information on the costs of antiretroviral therapy (ART) programs to estimate the cost per completed patient-year of ART for a representative sample of providers and to identify the determinants of program success or failure. A compilation of other in-country data sources will complement the new data.

The results will enable us to outline policy implications and recommendations for ministries of health and funding organizations, improve efficiency and effectiveness in the delivery of health services, including ART in resource-limited settings, and optimize resource allocation for health in low- and middle-income countries.

Individual collaborators:

• Felix Masiye
• Chrispin Mphuka