Expert health economist to host free public lecture at QMU
Sophie Witter, who is a Professor of International Health Financing and Health Systems in IGHD, will review her personal learning journey of ‘Health worker incentives in fragile and crisis-affected settings’ over the past twenty years, as part of this special professorial lecture.
Professor Witter specialises in health financing policy and health systems research in low and middle income countries. She has over 25 years’ experience in these areas, working first in a development agencies and then in the universities of York, Aberdeen and QMU. She also has extensive experience of health financing research, using mixed methods, as well as providing technical advisory services for Ministries of Health and development partners. Professor Witter’s also teaches at postgraduate level.
The free public lecture is part of The Queen Margaret Professorial Lecture series, which offers fresh angles on topics of relevance and are designed to appeal to a wide audience.
The event is also part of QMU’s tenth anniversary celebrations. Ten years ago, in October 2007, QMU welcomed the first students to our new campus at Musselburgh.
Professor Witter’s lecture will address health worker pay and wider incentives, specific challenges in fragile and post-conflict settings and research tools available to better understand these contexts. The Lecture will also cover what drives or impedes health worker incentive reforms.
Commenting on the topic of her lecture, Professor Witter said: ““The health workforce is the key driver of how health systems work. It tends to be complex, political, dynamic, expensive – all the things which make for interesting study. In fragile and crisis-affected areas, the gaps in staffing and also poor distribution are often be extreme – creating one of the main barriers for families to receive health care at a reasonable price and of good quality. Yet these are precisely the areas where most ill health is experienced and lives are lost, where marginalisation is greatest.
“In this lecture, I will draw out what has emerged from research conducted over the past few years in the ReBUILD consortium and also through other related projects looking at health system resilience in humanitarian setting”.
Professor Witter’s Professorial Lecture, ‘Health worker incentives in fragile and crisis-affected settings: my learning journey’ will take place in the Conference Suite/Piano Bar at QMU, Wednesday 22 November, 6pm-8pm.
Learn more about QMU’s Institute for Global Health & Development (IGHD).
ENDS
Notes to Editor
For further media information contact Lynne Russell, Communications Manager, Queen Margaret University, E: lrussell@qmu.ac.uk T: 0131 474 0000, M: 07711 011239, or Jonathan Perkins, Press and PR Officer, E: jperkins@qmu.ac.uk T: 0131 474 0000.
