Page 46 - SAMRC Annual Report 2024-2025

Centre for Health Economics
and Decision Science

Research Unit

Unit director:
Prof. Susan Goldstein
Susan.Goldstein@wits.ac.za

Advancing Research Priorities:
Strategic Objectives and Impact

PRICELESS focuses on best buys and prioritising
population health. We are a research-to-policy unit
that focuses on the prevention of Non-Communicable
Diseases, through preventing obesity throughout
the life-course. Our current priorities are looking at
policies such as the Health Promotion Levy, advertising Health economics group.
of unhealthy foods to children, looking at the food
environment at schools and universities. We also
focus on health financing – in particular ethics around
Health Technology Assessment, and Health Benefits
packages for the National Health Insurance (NHI). Our
work encompasses policy analysis, stakeholder and
public engagement, and partnerships with advocacy
organisations particularly around the commercial
determinants of health.

Key Milestones and Achievements
During this financial year, we received a grant from the WITS school of public health group.
NIHR in partnership with the University of Edinburgh
to study the Commercial Determinants of Health, an
area critical for the prevention of NCDs. This follows industry often claims, thus support maintaining and
our participation in the Lancet Commission on increasing this levy, as it is shown to reduce obesity
Commercial Determinants of Health. and NCDs.

We received 2 grants from UNICEF to study the Prof Karen Hofman the founder of PRICELESS
legal and economic feasibility of introducing policies received the Platinum Lifetime Achievement Award
to reduce obesity in Namibia and Tanzania, as well from the SAMRC.
as in partnership with Section 27 to analyse the
South African School Nutrition Programme and Building Capacity Through
cost the implementation of a healthy breakfast. Our
multidisciplinary team is looking at the economic Training, Mentorship, and Support
aspects, the policy aspects and the health impact We continue to run the Health Economics stream
of introducing a healthy breakfast in the NSNP. We of the master’s in public health at the University of
were able to demonstrate that introducing the Health the Witwatersrand. We also run an online course on
Promotion Levy did not impact jobs as the sugar priority setting. In this year, we developed a course

44 SAMRC ANNUAL REPOR T 2024-25