Chris Desmond

Chris Desmond is an economist specializing in health and social policy research related to human development over the life-course. His work has focused on children affected by HIV, the challenges of conducting economic evaluations of health and social interventions, including those concerned with the care of children and, more recently, the determinants of adolescent wellbeing. Dr Desmond is the co-developer (with Prof. Sudir Anand, Oxford University) of the Cost of Inaction Approach, which Nobel Prize winner Amartya Sen has described as a ‘new way of looking at policy analysis’. He has worked with UNICEF, the World Bank, PEPFAR/USAID and numerous foundations. Dr Desmond has conducted research and/or policy development in 10 African countries, including policy work with 5 African governments.