Early healthcare investment is our best chance at healthy ageing
COVID-19 shone a spotlight on older people's health. We need the same level of investment in preventative healthcare to ensure a health ageing population.
John is an economist, an Associate Professor and Director of the Health Economics Unit, University of Cape Town. He serves as the interim South African Research Leader (Chair) in Health and Wealth. John is also the Deputy Executive Director for the African Health Economics and Policy Association (AfHEA) and a member, Board of Directors for the International Health Economics Association (iHEA). He is a research fellow for the Partnership for Economic Policy (PEP) network, a scientific advisory group member for the INDEPTH Household Out of Pocket Expenditures (iHOPE) and was a Mellon Mandela Fellow (20016/17) at Harvard University, USA. John has a PhD in Economics from the University of Cape Town and several years of research and teaching experience in many African countries. He is the recipient of several competitive awards, both locally and internationally. His awards include the competitive Commonwealth Scholarships, the TW Kambule-NSTF Award to emerging researchers in South Africa, the Claude Leon Merit Award for Young Lecturers in South Africa and the College of Fellows Young Researcher Award. He has also served as an advisor nationally, and to international agencies including the World Health Organization. His research interests in economics include poverty, inequality, equity in health and health care, social determinants of health, health financing and recently, the economics of ageing. John has a great interest in academic writing and has published widely in his areas of interest in the Lancet, PLoS Medicine, Health Economics, Health Policy & Planning, Social Science & Medicine, Health Economics Policy & Law and Applied Economics.