Page 22 - A9Rc19d2z_zddyc4_fc0.tmp

TION O6

SEC Enhancing Capacity

One of HERU’s priorities is building capacity in health economics. We have a
comprehensive strategy in place for both specialist training in health economics and
improving economics literacy in health professionals. A detailed overview of our capacity
building activities can be found on our website at www.abdn.ac.uk/heru/courses/

Capacity building highlights in 2019 include:

Online MSc/Postgraduate Diploma/Postgraduate Certificate
in Health Economics for Health Professionals
Our Post Graduate Certificate in Health Economics was extended to a new MSc in Health Economics for Health
Professionals in September 2017. In 2019, eight students conducted their MSc dissertation. The wide range of topics
reflects the breadth of the course:
• Beyond the QALY: what matters to female cancer patients?
• Costs and consequences of open-access surveillance compared to standard care in patients treated for
colorectal cancer with curative intent?
• Assessment of factors affecting the demand of first line anti-retrovirals in Zimbabwe.
• A cost-minimisation analysis of point of care testing for influenza versus polymerase chain reaction lab testing.
• Cost of hospitalization for acute coronary syndrome in the Philippines.
• Chronic migraine – what’s it worth? Using compensating income variation.

• The effects of country of origin, acculturation and gender on obesity in Australian migrant populations.
• Cost-effectiveness analysis of point of care C-reactive protein test intervention to reduce unnecessary anti-biotic
prescription in malaria negative patients in Afghanistan.
We welcomed 36 new students in September 2019. In total, 61 students were registered on the course by the end of
2019.
The programme is aimed at health professionals, and other interested students, who would like to improve their
understanding of health economics and who are unable to study full-time and/or want to avoid relocating.
No experience of economics is necessary to undertake the course. Further details are available at www.abdn.ac.uk/
heru/courses/pgcert/

Other MSc dissertation supervision
We welcomed Charlotte Kennedy, an MSc student from the University of York, to work on her research dissertation.
Charlotte worked with Marjon van der Pol, Dr Heather Brown (University of Newcastle) and Dr Gertraud Staudler
(Health Psychology, University of Aberdeen) on ‘The role of time and risk preferences in spousal correlations in health
behaviours’ using Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) data. Later in the year Charlotte joined
HERU as a staff member. We also supervised students on the Public Health and Global Health Management programmes.

22 HERU ANNUAL REPORT 2019