Social science research on household and community health, and recently focusing on HIV and AIDS. Factors influencing treatment seeking behaviour, illness costs and the economic burden of illness, related individual and household coping strategies, resilience, and the links between illness and impoverishment.  Social analysis of HIV and AIDS, focusing on the social and economic impact of HIV on individuals and households, and people’s self-management of HIV as a chronic condition: their adaptive strategies, self-management and adjustment. Demand-side approaches to health system development, particularly people’s trust in, access to and uptake of health care services, and health policy as social protection policy tool. Primary research experience in Sri Lanka, Uganda, Thailand, Ethiopia and South Africa. Earlier research focused on health policy analysis, particularly health financing and equity, decentralization and organizational capacity, and wider institutional environments that enable or constrain health sector reform processes.

Research Groups: Health Policy and Practice; HIV and Development Group
 
Research interests

The economic burden of illness for households

Research expertise on the economic burden of illness for households, measuring access, treatment behaviour, the costs of illness, strategies adopted by households to cope with costs, and the medium term impact of illness costs and strategies on household livelihood and poverty outcomes.  Developed conceptual and methodological approaches for the analysis of household vulnerability to illness-related impoverishment, and factors affecting household resilience to illness costs.  His work  also includes user trust in health services and its influence on access and uptake of health services.  He has conducted primary research on illness costs, impoverishment and factors influencing resilience in Sri Lanka (ESRC-funded) and worked on similar research in Ethiopia (SCF-funded) and South Africa (Wellcome Trust).  Steve was a co-investigator on a Wellcome Trust-funded project (2006-8) in rural South Africa, in collaboration with LSHTM and the University of Witwatersrand, that examined people’s access to health care services, and the influence of free PHC, hospital exemptions, pensions and other cash transfers on access to and affordability of health care.  He was then a co-investigator on an ESRC-Hewlett-funded research project (2008-10) in Burkina Faso that measured the impact of obstetric complications on economic, social and health outcomes for women and their families over a 4 year period, working with colleagues at LSHTM and GREFSaD in Bobo-Dioulasso.   

Social aspects of HIV and AIDS, focusing on people’s self-management of HIV on antiretroviral therapy (ART)

Research in rural South Africa also examined people’s access to care for chronic health conditions,  people’s management of chronic illness.  His most recent research has focused on people’s management of HIV as a chronic condition in Uganda when taking ART: their adaptive strategies, their self-management and adjustment, and their work to rebuild lives and livelihoods, to regain order and control.   This work started in rural Uganda in 2005 on a project funded by the Centers for Disease Control, and after publishing this work in 2010 Steve won an ESRC grant to take forward the work in Entebbe, Uganda, using both qualitative and quantitative methods to explore people’s self-management on ART and mental health outcomes.

Health financing policy

Steve’s earlier work examined the revenue and equity impacts of user fees, pre-payment schemes and other risk sharing or health insurance mechanisms, and factors influencing their impact. He has conducted research on the effectiveness of targeted exemptions to the poor and factors influencing exemption uptake and coverage, in South Africa, Thailand, Zimbabwe and Ethiopia and more recently Burkina Faso.  In South Africa the research looked at health services from a social protection and social inclusion perspective, and analysed the synergies of free health care and cash transfers and how these influenced household resilience to illness-related shocks.

Health sector reform

Steve’s earlier research also looked at health service delivery and financing arrangements, and government capacity to deliver reforms to these arrangements. He conducted policy analysis in Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe of decentralization to district management boards or tertiary hospital management boards, and government capacity to design and implement reforms, looking at organizational capacity within Ministries of Health and the wider institutional and political environment that influences reform processes (DFID-funded and WHO-funded research).  

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Publications

2010

RUSSELL S, Seeley J, Whiteside A. (2010) Editorial to special edition: Expanding antiretroviral therapy provision in resource-limited settings: social processes and their policy challenges. AIDS Care, 22, Supp. 1: 1-5.

Seeley J, RUSSELL S. (2010) Social rebirth and social transformation? Rebuilding social lives after ART in rural Uganda. AIDS Care, 22, Supp. 1: 44-50.

Russell S, Seeley J. (2010) The transition to living with HIV as a chronic condition in rural Uganda: Working to create order and control on anti-retroviral therapy. Social Science and Medicine, 70: 375-382
Link to journal article          Link to document

 

2009

Seeley, J., Russell S., Khana, K., Ezati, E., King, R., Bunnell, R. (2009).  `Sex after ART: the nature of sexual partnerships established by HIV-infected persons taking anti-retroviral therapy in Eastern Uganda’  Culture, Health and Sexuality
Link to Journal Article

Goudge J, RussellS, Gilson L, Molyneux C, Hanson K. (2009). Household experiences of ill-health and risk protection mechanisms. Journal of International Development, 21(2): 159-168
Link to Journal Article

Goudge J, RussellS, Gilson L, Gumede T, Tollman S and Mills A. (2009). Illness-related impoverishment in rural South Africa: why does social protection work for some households but not others? Journal of International Development, 21(2): 231-251.
Link to Journal Article

Molyneux C, Goudge J, RussellS, Chuma J, Gumede T, Gilson L. (2009) Conducting health-related social science research in low-income settings: Ethical dilemmas faced in Kenya and South Africa. Journal of International Development, 21(2): 309-326.
Link to Journal Article

Goudge J, Gilson L, RussellS,  Gumede T, Mills S (2009) Affordability, availability and acceptability barriers to health care for the chronically ill: Longitudinal case studies from South Africa. BMC Health Services Research, 9: 75.
Link to Journal Article

Goudge J,  Gilson L, RussellS, Gumede T, Mills A. (2009). The household costs of health care in rural South Africa with free public primary care and hospital exemptions for the poor. Tropical Medicine and International Health, 14(4): 458-67.
Link to Journal Article

2008

Teerawattananon Y and Russell, S. (2008). The greatest happiness of the greatest number? Policy actors perspectives on the limits of economic evaluation as a tool for informing health care coverage decisions in Thailand. BMC Health Services Research, 8: 197.
Link to Journal Article 

Teerawattananon Y and RussellS (2008). A difficult balancing act: Policy actors’ perspectives on using economic evaluation to inform health care coverage decisions under the universal health insurance coverage scheme in Thailand. Value in Health, 11 (Supplement 1): S52-S60
Link to Journal Article          Link to document           

2007

Russell, S., Seeley, J., Ezati, E., Wamai, N., Were, W., Bunnell, R. (2007) 'Coming back from the dead: living with HIV as a chronic condition in rural Africa' Health Policy and Planning, 22(5):344-347
Link to Journal Article          Link to document  

Teerawattananon Y, Russell S, Mugford M (2007). A systematic review of economic evaluation literature in Thailand: are the data good enough to be used by policy-makers?  Pharmacoeconomics, 25 (6):467-479
Link to Journal Article          Link to document 

 

2006

Russell, S and Gilson L.  (2006) Are health services protecting the livelihoods of the urban poor in Sri Lanka? Findings from two low-income areas of Colombo.  Social Science and Medicine, 63: 1732-1744 
Link to Journal Article          Link to document

Teerawattananon Y, Hanshaoworakul W, Russell S, Tangcharoensathien V and Jiamton S. (2006). Targeting antiretroviral therapy: lessons from a longitudinal study of morbidity and treatment in relation to CD4 count in Thailand.  Asia Pacific Journal of Public Health, 18 (1): 39-48.
Link to Journal Article

 

2005

Kissling E, Allison EH, Seeley J, Russell S, Bachmann M, Musgrave S, Heck S (2005) Fisherfolk are among those most at risk to HIV: A cross-country comparison of estimated prevalence and numbers infected among groups at risk. AIDS, 19 (17): 1939-1947
Link to Journal Article
 

Zenner D and Russell S (2005).  Sexually transmitted diseases and HIV/AIDS in Vanuatu: a cause for concern and action. New Zealand Medical Journal, 118 (1220): 1-10
Link to Journal Article

Russell S (2005) Illuminating cases: understanding the economic burden of illness through case study household research. Health Policy and Planning, 20 (5): 277-289
Link to Journal Article          Link to document

Russell, S (2005) Treatment seeking behaviour in urban Sri Lanka: trusting the state, trusting private providers. Social Science and Medicine, 61: 1396-1407.
Link to Journal Article
 

2004

Russell S (2004) The economic burden of illness for households in developing countries: A review of studies focusing on malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS.  American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, August 2004, Vol 71 (Supplement 2): 147-155.
Link to Journal Article          Link to document 

 

2002

Russell S and Vidler E (2000) The rise and fall of government-community partnerships for urban development: grassroots testimony from Colombo, Sri Lanka.  Environment and Urbanization, 12 (1): 73-86. ISSN 0956-2478
Link to Journal Article          Link to document

 

Earlier publications

Russell S, Bennett S and Mills A (1999) Reforming the health sector: towards a healthy new public management.  Journal of International Development, 11(5): 767-775. ISSN 0954-1748
Link to Journal Article

Russell S and Gilson L (1997). User fee policies to promote health service access for the poor: a wolf in sheep’s clothing?  International Journal of Health Services, 27 (2).
Link to Journal Article
 

Russell S (1996)  Ability to pay for health care: concepts and evidence.  Health Policy and Planning, 11 (3): 219-237.
Link to Journal Article
 

Gilson L  Russell S and Buse K (1995).  The political economy of user fees with targeting: developing equitable health financing policy.  Journal of International Development, 7(3): 69-401.
Link to Journal Article
 

Russell S, Fox-Rushby J and Arhin D (1995) Willingness and ability to pay for health care: a selection of methods and issues.  Health Policy and Planning 10 (1): 94-101.
Link to Journal Article
 

Books and book chapters

Russell S (2007). Coping with the Costs of Illness: Vulnerability and Resilience among Poor Households in Urban Sri Lanka. Chapter 7 in Bennett S, Mills A and Gilson L. (eds.). Health, Economic Development and Household Poverty: From Understanding to Action. Routledge.

Mills A, Bennett S and Russell S with Attanayake N, Hongoro C, Muralheedharan VR and Smithson P (2001) The Challenge Of Health Sector Reform: What Must Governments Do?  Macmillan, Basingstoke.

PhD Thesis

Russell S.  (2001). Can households afford to be ill?  The role of the health system, material resources and social networks in Sri Lanka.  PhD thesis.  London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, University of London.

Published reports / monographs

Russell S. (2003).  The economic burden of illness for households: A review of costs of illness and coping strategy studies focusing on malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS.  The Disease Control Priorities Project (DCPP), Working Paper No.15. WHO, Fogarty International Center of the U.S. National Institutes of Health and the World Bank. August 2003
Link to document

Russell S and Abdella K. (2002). Too Poor to be Sick: Coping with the Costs of Illness in Ethiopia. Save the Children Fund (UK), London.

Gilson L, Russell S, Rauyajin O et al. (1998)  Exempting the Poor: A Review and Evaluation of the Low Income Card Scheme in Thailand.  PHP Departmental Publication No.30, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London. ISSN 0962-6115

Russell S and Perera MALR (1998)  Exploring the Wider Picture: The Influence of Political and Institutional Contexts on Health Sector Decentralization in Sri Lanka.  University of Colombo - Institute of Social Studies (Netherlands) Project Working Paper Series, No. 9803, June.

Bennett S, Mills A, Russell S  et al. (1998)  The health sector in Thailand.  Paper 31, The Role of Government in Adjusting Economies Series, School of Public Policy, University of Birmingham. ISBN 0-7044-1953-X

Russell S, Kwaramba P and Hongoro C (1997)  Reforming the health sector in Zimbabwe: does government have the capacity?  Paper 20, The Role of Government in Adjusting Economies Series, School of Public Policy, University of Birmingham. ISBN 0-7044-1811-8.

Russell S and Attanayake N (1997)  Reforming the health sector in Sri Lanka: does government have the capacity? Paper 14, The Role of Government in Adjusting Economies Series, School of Public Policy, University of Birmingham.  ISBN 0-7044-1800-2

Silva T, Russell S and Rakodi C (1997)  The opinions of health and water users in Sri Lanka.  Paper 25, The Role of Government in Adjusting Economies Series, School of Public Policy, University of Birmingham. ISBN 0-7044-1870-3

Bennett S, Russell S and Mills A  (1996)  Institutional and economic perspectives on government capacity to assume new roles in the health sector: a review of experience.  PHP Departmental Publication No. 22, London School of hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London. ISSN 0962-6115

Russell S and Gilson L (1995)  User fees at government health services – is equity being considered?  PHP Departmental Publication No. 15, London School of hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London. ISSN 0962-6115

Russell S and Gilson L  (1994)  Can fees recover costs?  ARHTAG Journal, June.

Unpublished Reports

Russell S  (1995)  Contingent valuation to set prices in developing countries: health sector experience and lessons for research development.  Report submitted to the Finance Task Force, Special Programme for Research and Training (TDR), World Health Organisation, Geneva.

Russell S  Wijeratne K, Abayasekera G and Perera R (1996)  Decentralisation and health systems change: the case of Sri Lanka.  Report submitted to the National Health Systems and Policies Unit, Division of Strengthening of Health Services, World health Organisation, Geneva. 

Before becoming Head of School I was Director of Teaching and Learning at the School of International Development for four years, and my roles included monitoring and improving teaching quality across undergraduate and postgraduate courses and modules.  

I enjoy teaching and where possible I incorporate my research into the subjects I cover at both postgraduate and undergraduate levels.  I use a range of techniques, including lectures, workshops for practical exercises and smaller group work, and I use various media to enhance teaching and to illustrate development settings where possible. 

As Head of School I can only find time to do a few lectures on a limited number of modules at undergraduate and postgraduate levels, but I look forward to returning to teaching in a few years’ time.

Research Supervision

I supervise PhD students who work on health-related issues that are related to my areas of expertise, and I am always keen to hear from people who wish to pursue new PhD research on questions related to HIV and other chronic illness management in resource poor settings, and on questions of health, illness and poverty.