Igna Bonfrer, associate professor Global Health Economics at Erasmus School of Health Policy & Management (ESHPM) receives a Vidi grant from the Dutch Research Council (NWO). The grant enables her to further develop her innovative line of research and to expand her research group in the coming five years.
NWO selects scientists based on quality and innovative character of the research. Vidi laureates possess academic qualities that clearly exceed what is usual and are in transition towards leadership. Together with Veni and Vici, Vidi is part of the NWO Talent Programme.
Never waste a good crisis? Aid and chronic care services across Africa
The laureate receives the funding for her research ‘Never waste a good crisis? Aid and chronic care services across Africa.’ The recent withdrawal of development aid by the United States and other countries is both a shock and an opportunity for African health care. This project analyses how African governments change their health care financing and what this means for the chronically ill, who make up half of Africa’s patients. The project will unlock existing data on almost 20,000 Africans, develop a new measure for chronic care performance and is the first to apply the econometric “shift-share” method to Health Services Research. This combined effort will inform policy makers about opportunities to strengthen health care financing with reduced donor funding.
"This award will enable me to further strengthen my research line on health care financing in low- and middle- income countries, embedded in our shared global health portfolio. I look forward to advance research on a topic that I am passionate about, together with local scientists."
Igna Bonfrer simultaneously obtained her MSc in Health Economics (cum laude) and her MSc in Econometrics from Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR). She has conducted research on health care financing at the University of Oxford, EUR and Harvard University. She did fieldwork in collaboration with Makerere University (Uganda) and the Institut de Recherche en Science de la Santé (Burkina Faso). She currently supervises five PhD candidates and recently received the Best PhD Supervisor Award from the Erasmus Graduate School. Dr. Bonfrer coordinates the BSc course “Global Challenges in Health & Behavior” and the MSc course “Global Health Economics” at ESHPM. She is Director of the Rotterdam Global Health Initiative, a vibrant international network with over 350 members, primarily active in low- and middle-income countries.
- Associate professor
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