Papa Momodou Jack, BA (Hons) MPhil

PhD Candidate at the Department of Geography and Churchill College

Momodou’s research explores stakeholder perceptions on the implementation of the Community-Based Health Insurance scheme in Ethiopia

Biography

Prior to commencing the PhD in Geography programme at the University of Cambridge, Momodou worked as a Consultant at PwC in London, where he supported a range of international development projects in Africa and Asia. He holds a BA (Honours) in Geography from Newcastle University, where he completed a substantive study on the Ghanaian National Health Insurance Scheme and its implications on indigent health, and an MPhil in Development Studies from the University of Cambridge.

Having lived in Botswana, The Gambia, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda and Zimbabwe, Momodou has developed a passion for envisioning alternatives to conventional development, to actively reassess and re-learn the realities of the Global South that move beyond the central tenets of ‘modernisation-as-development’ thinking. He aims to bridge the divide between scholarship and the implementation of health policies by contributing cutting edge and relevant research that addresses current challenges faced by institutions and society, grounded in theoretical rigour, with practical applicability.

Career

• September 2015 – August 2017: Consultant at PwC/Strategy& (UK).
• August 2014 – September 2014: Management Consulting and Corporate Finance Intern at KPMG (Botswana).
• June 2014 – August 2014: Corporate and Indirect Tax Intern at PwC (UK).
• July 2011 – July 2011: Finance Intern at Agency for Cooperation and Research in Development (ACORD) International (Kenya).
• June 2009 – June 2009: Finance Intern at the World Health Organisation (Rwanda).

Qualifications

• 2018 – Present: PhD Candidate in Geography, Department of Geography, University of Cambridge.
• 2017 – 2018: MPhil in Development Studies, Centre of Development Studies, University of Cambridge.
• 2012 – 2015: BA (Honours) Geography, Newcastle University.

Awards

• Gates Cambridge Scholarship (2018).

Research

The last four decades have seen health become a central part of the global agenda, as evidenced by the unprecedented political attention to health challenges in developing countries, and by the heterogeneity of new actors engaged in development assistance for health (Murray et al, 2011). Despite this centrality, a large proportion of academics still focus solely on health schemes in the Global North, and the remaining few that have evaluated interventions in developing countries have rarely considered the impact that various inequities and power dynamics have on health outcomes in a comprehensive and inter-related way.

My research uses a mixed methods approach (primarily based on semi-structured interviews, but contextualised using analysis of existing health survey data) to examine the roles of ethnicity, gender, and socio-economic status in explaining differences in health outcomes under the Community-Based Health Insurance (CBHI) scheme in Ethiopia. In doing so, this study will analyse regional variations in health experiences and outcomes in Ethiopia under current political and socio-economic systems, and provide practical recommendations on improving existing and future policies and programming. In addition, it will also examine the role of intergovernmental organisations (IGOs), non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and traditional healers in filling the health provision gap for both insured and uninsured indigents. Given the rapid growth in population across Africa in the medium term, coupled with falling mortality rates and an ageing population, health policies will not only need to address issues of quality and inequity, but also adapt to changing demographics.

Publications

Conferences

• March 2019, Kigali (Rwanda): Presentation on the National Health Insurance Scheme and its implications on indigent health in South Tongu district, Ghana at the 2019 Africa Health Agenda International Conference.

External activities

• Member of the Cambridge Group for the History of Population and Social Structure.
• Member of the Geographies of Health Reading Group.
• Member of the Health Equity Network.