Karina Kielmann (MA, PhD) is Professor in Health Systems at the Institute for Global Health and Development. She is also a member of the Institute for Global Health and Development Research Centre.
- Overview
- Research Interests
- Research Publications
- Funded Projects
- Teaching & Learning
- Activities & Awards
Karina is a Canadian-German medical anthropologist with training in anthropology (McGill University) and public health (Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health). She has 25 years of experience in research, teaching, and developing capacity for social science research in global health, with a particular focus on strengthening health systems in low- and middle-income countries. She has long-term research experience in India, East Africa (Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda) and Southern Africa (South Africa, Zambia, Malawi). More recently, her work extends to support health systems responsiveness for minoritized groups in Europe (UK, Latvia, Belgium).
After working at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) from 2001-2011, Karina was based at IGHD between 2011 and 2021. She took on a 3-year post as Professor in Health Policy & Systems Research at the Institute of Tropical Medicine Antwerp and returned to the UK to re-join IGHD in 2025.
Karina's long-term research in India, east and southern Africa has enabled her to integrate theoretical and methodological expertise in systems thinking, organizational theory and implementation science for the study of health systems performance and accountability. Her work offers a critical social science perspective on ‘mechanistic’ views of the health system, privileging a lens on the system as a social institution, the translation of health policies and guidelines at the level of local health systems and the dynamic interface with communities they serve. Previous projects (2016 - 2022) funded through MRC, ESRC, and NIHR focus examined how health systems can become more responsive to individuals with HIV, tuberculosis and drug-resistant tuberculosis – with one project focused explicitly on men. These projects critically interrogate 1) health workers’ and managers’ decision-making spaces and parameters for translating global guidelines within resource-constrained contexts and 2) the role of community engagement, participation, and health literacy in shaping health systems responsiveness. More recent work (2021 – 2024) in Europe has focused on health inequities, particularly for individuals from migrant and ethnic minority backgrounds, and the co-design of innovative health systems strategies to address these individuals’ needs. Karina is currently Principal Investigator for a 4.5 year project funded through the Novo Nordisk Foundation entitled: "Co-designing Health Innovations to reach Mobile Men with Co-Morbidities in Uganda and Zambia (HIMM)”.
Active research interests
Tuberculosis; HIV; non-communicable disease co-morbidities; health systems performance; integration of health and social care; lay and informal health providers; health worker agency; patient engagement
Research Methods
Qualitative; ethnographic; social mapping; health systems research; mixed methods
Research Grants & Contracts Funding:
Intervening with a Manualised Package to achieve treatment adherence in people with Tuberculosis: the IMPACT study
Co-I, (National Institute for Health Research Health Technology Award, 2018-2021, Lead: Dr Marc Lipman, UCL)
Umoya omuhle: Infection prevention and control for drug-resistant tuberculosis in South Africa in the era of decentralised care: a whole systems approach
Umoya ohmule is a collaborative, interdisciplinary project investigating the transmission of drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB) in clinics across two regions of South Africa. The name, Umoya omuhle, means good air in Zulu, and embodies the project vision of bringing a ‘breath of fresh air' to current thinking on infection prevention and control.
Co-PI (with Prof. Alison Grant, LSHTM) (Economic & Social Research Council (ESRC) AMR Initiative, 2017-2020)
Find out more about Umoya omuhle
Addressing Gaps in Men's Health Literacy and Health Seeking in Mozambique: A Case for Differentiated Care for HIV and CVD
Applying a syndemics approach to the case of HIV and CVD co-morbidity among men in Mozambique, the project aims to strengthen the evidence base for developing differentiated health systems strategies to promote men's health literacy and sustained engagement with health care services in Southern Africa.
Optimizing health systems to improve delivery of decentralized care for patients with drug resistant tuberculosis
Co-PI (with Prof Mark Nicol, UCT and Mosa Moshabela, UKZN) (Wellcome Trust/Joint Health Systems Research Initiative, 2016-2020)
Karina has been teaching and developing capacity for conducting qualitative and ethnographic research as applied to health and health systems for over 20 years. In addition to research methodology, she has also taught in the following areas and topics: health policy and systems research; global public health; tuberculosis and HIV care; gender and health; ethics in public health. In her teaching, she aims to deliver material that is topical and evidence-based, yet also close to experience. Students are encouraged to participate and engage critically with the subject through a range of interactive methods and materials including work with case studies, poster presentations, role play, and films.
- World Health Organisation (WHO) Civil Society Task Force on Tuberculosis (2024 - currently)
- November 2023: Invited speaker, Tuberculosis and Equity, Brocher Residency, Geneva, Switzerland.
- November 2022: Panel (co-organised with Lenka Benova, ITM) Beyond Checklists: Enhancing Health Facility Assessments for Learning Health Systems in Sub-Saharan Africa. 7th Global Symposium on Health Systems Research, Bogota, Columbia
- March 2021: Invited speaker. ‘Material and social infrastructures of Infection Prevention & Control for TB in South Africa’. AMR & Anthropology Research Group (LSHTM).
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March 2021: Panel. (co-organised with Hayley MacGregor) Clinic Ethnography. 6th Global Symposium on Health Systems Research. Dubai. UAE
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March 2018: Invited speaker and panellist: UCL/LSHTM World TB Day Event
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June 2017: Invited speaker, ‘Engaging with HIV care: why space, time, and social relations matter’. Inspiring Global Communities, Wellcome Collection, London, UK.
