Context
The NIHR funds a range of high-quality global health research, investing in applied health research that directly addresses the diverse health needs of people in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). From 2026, funding will focus on 2 regions: sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
Following the priorities for Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC)’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) funding set out in the 2025 spending review, the focus of the programme will be on global health security. The new funding will address 2 types of health security threats: 1. Acute: this means prevention, detection and response to infectious diseases, including diseases that cause epidemics or pandemics, and 2. Chronic: this includes antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and infectious diseases of poverty.
In April 2026, the NIHR will launch a new yearly funding scheme addressing global health security threats. Each year the call will have a new theme. The NIHR will resume 2 personal award schemes to support the next generation of global health research leaders including Global Health Research Professorships and Global Advanced Fellowships. Information about GHR and calls for funding are shared on the NIHR Global Health Research website.
Over the past few years, it has been estimated that economists were engaged in at least 125 projects funded by NIHR Global Health around the world.
This group aims to create a space for economists working in NIHR Global Health funded research to connect, share experiences and as a group enhance learning, impact and contributions to other existing national and global platforms.
Sub-group session - launch event
An initial launch session was held in October convened by Prof Kara Hanson (LSHTM) Prof Emma McIntosh (University of Glasgow) and Laura Anselmi (University of Manchester).
The session started with an update on the current funding landscape and was followed by a brief presentation on the types of health economics research being conducted in NIHR GHR awards (Groups, Units, HPSR, RIGHT, Global Research Professors).
In the 125 awards identified as having an health economics component, only 6 had economics as a primary focus, while it was a secondary focus in the remaining 119 awards. The majority of these (85) focused on economic evaluations of health interventions and programs, with some focusing on the economic burden of diseases (11), health determinants and outcomes (8), measurement (6), capacity strengthening (5), financing (2) and health system reform and policy analysis (2).
The update was followed by an open discussion and brainstorming, focusing on the following two questions:
- How can we leverage the work we are doing into a wider NIHR global health economics community? What activities and resources would be most valuable?
- In the current global health research funding environment, what synergies exist between domestic and global health research? Do you know of examples of global health economics research informing domestic health services?
Participants agreed on the importance of this sub-group to facilitate connections and synergies with other economists in the wider NIHR community based in the UK and in the widespread NIHR Global Health community.
Future plans
Since the event in October was held in person alongside other NIHR Economics sub-groups, a similar event will be held online in February 2026 giving potential for wider engagement from non-UK based researchers. This event is planned for 24th February 2026, 12.00 to 13.00 GMT.
This sub-group is currently led by Emma McIntosh (University of Glasgow), Lorna Guinness (LSHTM) and Laura Anselmi (University of Manchester), but expressions of interest are encouraged from colleagues working in NIHR Global Health research to join a committee and take the sub-group forward ensuring wider representation.
Lorna Guinness
Associate Professor of Health Economics |
London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
Dr Laura Anselmi
Senior Lecturer in Health Economics |
The University of Manchester
Prof Emma McIntosh
Professor of Health
Economics |
University of Glasgow