Professor Kabir Sheikh discusses how social trends shape health systems in low- and middle-income countries, focusing on the complex mix of public-private, traditional-modern, and digital-nondigital axes. Health systems are social systems, and are shaped by broader trends such as urbanisation, commercialisation, the information revolution, and the post-pandemic social reordering. Against that backdrop, the configuration of health systems in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) is often deeply heterogeneous or “mixed” across different intersecting axes, for instance: public-private, professional-lay, traditional-modern, and digital-nondigital. These dynamic and contested intersections influence health system performance and equity, and also create unique policy challenges and opportunities. Professor Sheikh will outline key inferences from his body of research on the governance of mixed health systems in LMICs, and reflect on the changing character of health systems, and implications for the future of the field of health policy and systems research (HPSR).

Professor Kabir Sheikh is a field leader in health policy and systems research (HPSR) with over 20 years’ experience of research in diverse settings across Asia and Africa. His interests lie in the domain of equity-oriented, contextually relevant health policy and systems research (HPSR) that generate insights and solutions for health systems problems, using social science approaches (policy and implementation analysis).