Health Economics Unit

About HEU

The Health Economics Unit (HEU) was established in early 1990 in the School of Public Health and Family Medicine at the University of Cape Town. The HEU works to improve the performance of health systems through informing health policy and enhancing technical and managerial capacity in Sub-Saharan Africa. Its foundation is academic excellence in health economics and related health system issues.

Vision

Our work at the HEU is guided by the following vision:
The HEU will be a world-class independent authority in health economics, health policy and systems. It will lead in publishing innovative research which addresses priority conceptual and methodological issues in low- and middle- income countries. It will play a key role in global post-graduate training in health economics and offer expert policy advice on relevant issues in Sub-Saharan Africa. To achieve this, the HEU will pursue a balance of mainstream and developmental health economics drawing on a strong human resource base with a full range of relevant skills and a diversity of nationalities and backgrounds.

Objectives

The four core objectives of the HEU are:

To conduct high quality research in health economics, health policy and systems.
To train at the post-graduate level to improve technical research and health systems capacity.
To develop capacity in health economics and related health systems research in Africa.
To provide technical support to facilitate the translation of health policies into practical programmes.