Health Economics

Edina Sinanovic, Professor and Head of Division

Email:  Edina.Sinanovic@uct.ac.za

Phone: 021 406 6575

Publications

I am Professor and Head of the Health Economics Division in the School of Public Health and Family Medicine at the University of Cape Town. I have training in economics and health economics. I did my PhD at the LSHTM, and have worked in the field of health economics in South Africa since 1997. My research falls within three areas: economic evaluation of health care interventions, especially in relation to tuberculosis, HIV, cancer and STIs; economic considerations in vaccination, with an emphasis on the economic modelling of new vaccines; and the cost of scaling up health care interventions.

I have extensive teaching and student supervision experience. I teach Theory and Application of Economic Evaluation in Health Care on the MPH, and Economic Evaluation for Health Care Decision Making on the Postgraduate Diploma in Health Economics. My doctoral students are studying topics including economic evaluation of interventions for prevention of pediatric drug resistant TB, extended cost effectiveness analysis of publicly funded interventions for early detection and treatment of breast cancer, and cost-effectiveness of models of prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV intervention.

I am a member of the Executive Committee of the Pharmaceutical & Technology Clinical Management Association of South Africa (PTCMA), with a focus on research and education.

I have served on the WHO Immunization and Vaccines related Implementation Research (IVIR) Advisory Committee. In 2020, I was appointed a member of the Strategic Scientific Advisory Board of the Botnar Research Centre for Child Health (BRCCH) at the University of Basel, Switzerland, which is dedicated to advancing global child and adolescent health.

John Ataguba, Professor and Director: Health Economics Unit

Email:  John.Ataguba@uct.ac.za

Phone:  021 404 7701

Publications

John Ataguba is an economist.  He is also a Commonwealth scholar and an elected member of the South African Young Academy of Science.  He has taught topics in economics for over 10 years.  His current research interests include poverty, inequality, equity in health and health care, social determinants of health, and health financing.

Susan Cleary, Associate Professor

Email:  Susan.Cleary@uct.ac.za

Phone:  021 406 6755

Publications

Sue Cleary is a Health Economist and Health Systems Researcher with over 15 years’ experience. She has held a number of teaching and research capacity development/leadership roles in the School of Public Health & Family Medicine including Director of the Health Economics Unit (2007-2011), convener of the Postgraduate Diploma in Health Economics (2007-2014), convener of the PhD Programme (2014 to date) and coordinator of Postgraduate Programmes (2014 to 2016). Over a 6-year period, Sue led an 8-country Health Economics capacity development programme that included a unique network of Health Economists (HEPNet) and the administration of 30 bursaries to African candidates on the Masters in Public Health specialising in Health Economics. As of March 2017, 1 PhD and 21 Masters candidates have graduated under her supervision.

Olufunke Alaba, Senior Lecturer

Email:  Olufunke.Alaba@uct.ac.za

Phone:  021 406 6576

Publications

Olufunke Alaba is a Senior Lecturer in the Health Economics Unit and convenor of the Health Economics track in the Master of Public Health Programme. She is involved in teaching and research of health economics and health policy issues as well as the application of various Economic principles and tools to understanding and improving health outcomes, observed differentials in health and health outcomes, promoting economic growth and development.  Olufunke joined the Transformation Committee as Chair in February 2020.

Lucy Cunnama, Senior Lecturer

Email:  Lucy.Cunnama@uct.ac.za

Phone:  021 406 6754

Publications

Lucy Cunnama started working in the Health Economics Unit in May 2012. Her undergraduate degree was in Physiotherapy, after which she worked in the Eastern Cape at a rural hospital. Working in this environment inspired her to study public health and she finished her Master’s (MPH) degree in 2011, specializing in Health Economics. She currently supervises five MPH students, is on the Departmental Research Committee for the School of Public Health and Family medicine, co-convenes and teaches on the MPH health economics track and leads a module for the online Postgraduate Diploma in Health Economics. She is also a Health Economist on the Department of Health’s National TB Think Tank. Her research interests include economic evaluation; access to health care in the South African setting; tuberculosis diagnostics and treatment; paediatric pneumonia; and models of care relating to the prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV.

Sumaiyah Docrat, Lecturer

Email:  s.docrat@uct.ac.za

Phone:  021 406 6129

Publications

Sumaiyah Docrat is a Health Economist and Health Systems Researcher with over with 8 years of experience working across African, Asian and South American health systems.   She joined the Health Economic Division as a Lecturer in 2020, having spent 7 years working as a health economics researcher in the Alan J Flisher Centre for Public Mental Health (UCT).  She has cultivated a track record of successful collaborations across global academic, governmental, and healthcare partners. Sumaiyah received her Masters degree in Public Health specialising in Health Economics from UCT in 2012, and was awarded a PhD by UCT in December 2020.  Additionally, she holds a Honours Bachelor of Health Sciences awarded by the University of Ottawa (Canada) in 2009. 

In addition to being involved in teaching and student supervision within the Divison, Sumaiyah is passionate about being responsive to the needs of decision makers in LMICs.  Her primary areas of interest include investment case development (for mental health/NCDs), priority-setting, health technology assessment and examining levels of financial protection.  Her work has focussed on collaborating with health- and finance-sector partners to build the case for investing in mental health in the Global South, adapting methods to address these contexts. 

Amarech Obse, Research Officer

Email:  Amarech.Obse@uct.ac.za

Phone:  021 406 6752

Publications

Amarech Obse has joined the Health Economic Unit in 2015 as a post-doctoral research fellow. Her main area of research is health care financing and economics of stated preferences. Her current research focuses on analysis of health financing mechanisms and reforms in Africa and their effect on the Universal Health Coverage, the role of legal framework and regulations for private healthcare services under publicly funded systems in low- and middle-income countries, and preference elicitation for healthcare services.

She holds a Ph.D from Trinity College Dublin, Ireland. Her Ph.D research provided an
analysis of demand for health insurance in Ethiopia, focusing on preferences of civil servants for social health insurance plans. She has a Master’s and Bachelor’s  degrees in Economics from Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia. She previously worked at Addis Ababa University School of Public Health as a research assistant and lecturer.