Joshua Munywoki
Supervisors
Dr. Benjamin Tsofa
Dr. Benjamin Tsofa
Dr Tsofa is the Center Director for the KEMRI Centre for Geographic Medical Research – Coast. Tsofa trained in Dental Surgery at the University of Nairobi, and in Leadership and Management at KIA and MSH. He moved to Kilifi in 2004 as a clinical dentist, was appointed Deputy Hospital Superintendent in 2005, and then as District Medical Officer of Health for Kilifi District in 2006. As DMOH, working closely with Prof Marsh and Dr Peshu, he set up the KEMRI/MOH District Managers group and drafted the Programme’s MOH engagement policy guidelines. Tsofa took study leave from the Ministry and joined the Programme in April 2009 to coordinate the interactions of the Programme and the two ministries of health in Kenya.
Prof. Edwine Barasa
Edwine is the director of the Nairobi Programme of the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme and also heads the Programme’s Health Economics Research Unit (HERU). Edwine is also a Visiting Professor of Health Economics at the University of Oxford. He has a PhD in health economics (University of Cape Town), a masters degree in health economics (University of Cape Town), and a bachelors degree in Pharmacy (University of Nairobi). Edwine’s research interests include health financing; equity and efficiency analysis in healthcare; economic evaluation of healthcare interventions; measuring health systems’ performance; and health system governance. Edwine has several years of experience of practice, advisory, and conducting health economics and financing research in Kenya and in the broader Sub-Saharan African region. He provides health financing advisory to the Kenya Ministry of Health with his latest roles including appointments by the Minister of Health to the taskforce for the reform of the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) and Kenya Health Benefits Advisory Panel. At the regional level, his latest appointments include as a member of the advisory board of the Africa CDC’s Health Economic Unit, and as co-chair of the Africa Universal Health Coverage Commission. He also provides health financing technical advisory support to several international development organizations, including the World Bank and the World Health Organization (WHO), focusing on the broader Sub-Saharan African region including Kenya, Ghana, Somalia, Malawi, Madagascar, Uganda, Rwanda, Sudan, South Sudan, Mozambique, and Egypt.
Joshua has an undergraduate degree in Medical Laboratory Science and Technology (University of Nairobi). Additionally, he has trained on Research in Human Biology (University of Toronto), Scientist Knowledge Translation Training (SickKids Learning Institute®), Leadership and Management in Health (University of Washington) and Economic Evaluation in Health (University of Washington)
Prior to his studentship, he was based at a sub-county referral hospital for one year, where he gained experience and exposure to Kenyan Government Health System.
As a Queen Elizabeth Scholar in 2016, he got introduced to Global Health research as a research student at the SickKids Research Institute®. Under the mentorship of Dr. Helen Dimaras, he developed a career interest in health policy and systems research.
He hopes to grow a career in Health Policy and Systems Research, through which health systems in developing countries strengthen their capacities to materialize Universal Health Coverage. He is currently trying to understand priority-setting practices for human resources for health in the context decentralized health systems.
Publications:
Munywoki, J. M., & Dimaras, H. (2017). Enhancing Cancer Control in Kenya Through Knowledge Translation: A Perspective Review. The Journal of Global Health.
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