Ranjeeta Thomas

Ranjeeta Thomas is Assistant Professor of Health Economics and Programme Director of the MSc in International Health Policy. She is also an Honorary Lecturer in the Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, School of Public Health at Imperial College London.

Prior to LSE, she was a Research Fellow in the School of Public Health at Imperial College London and at the Health Economics Research Centre, University of Oxford. She has a PhD in Economics from the University of York.

Current research

Dr Thomas works on health economics in developing countries. Her interests are in applying quasi-experimental methods to evaluate large scale health programs; cost-effectiveness of population level health system interventions and evaluating through randomized-controlled experiments, interventions motivated by behavioural economics.

With funding from the National Institutes of Health, United States, she is currently leading field experiments in Zimbabwe to measure the influence of risk, time and social preferences on risky sexual behaviour, uptake of HIV testing and prevention methods; two randomised-controlled trials to improve uptake of pre-exposure prophylaxis(PrEP) and voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC). This project is being implemented through the Manicaland Centre for Public Health Research.

She is also evaluating the cost-effectiveness of Population Effects of Antiretroviral Therapy to Reduce HIV Transmission (PopART) in Zambia and South Africa, one of the largest HIV trials offering universal testing and treatment in sub-Sahara Africa.

Current projects

Using field experiments in Zimbabwe I’m evaluating the influence of risk, time and social preferences on risky sexual behaviour, uptake of HIV testing and prevention methods; See more here on the two randomised controlled trials to improve uptake of PrEP and VMMC. This project is being implemented through the Manicaland Centre for Public Health Research.

Working papers

Do large public investments in health reduce agricultural labour absenteeism? Evidence using administrative data from sugarcane fields in Southern Mozambique. (with Laia Cirera and Elisa Sicuri)

The impact of universal testing and treatment for HIV on productivity – Evidence from the HPTN 071 (PopART) Trial. (with Julius Ohrnberger, Richard Hayes, Katharina Hauck and the PopART Team).

Selected publications Thomas R., Probert W., Sauter R., et al. Cost and cost-effectiveness of a universal HIV testing and treatment intervention in Zambia and South Africa: Evidence and projections from the HPTN 071(PopART) Trial. The Lancet Global Health. 2021 Volume 9, Issue 5, e668-e680.

Morton A, Arulselvan A, Thomas RA, 2018, Allocation Rules for Global Donors. Journal of Health Economics, Vol:58, ISSN:0167-6296, Pages:67-75

Thomas RA, Burger R, Harper A, et al., 2017, Differences in health-related quality of life between HIV-positive and HIV-negative people in Zambia and South Africa: a cross-sectional baseline survey of the HPTN 071 (PopART) trial. The Lancet Global Health, Vol:5, ISSN:2214-109X, Pages:e1133-e1141

Morton A, Thomas R., Smith P, 2016, Decision rules for allocation of finances to health systems strengthening, Journal of Health Economics, Vol: 49, Pages: 97-108, ISSN: 0167-6296

Education

• PhD University of York (2007 — 2011)
• M.Sc University of York (2007 — 2008)
• M.Soc.Sc National University of Singapore (2003 — 2004)