Josephine Borghi
Research Group Leader and Principal Research Scholar
Health, Ageing and Health Systems Research Group
Population and Just Societies Program
Biography
Josephine Borghi leads the Health, Ageing and Health Systems (H2A) Research Group in the IIASA Population and Just Societies Program.Her research focuses on understanding the effect of health financing reforms on health systems, health outcomes, and equity. She has a particular interest in health systems and financing, as well as the impact of climate change and other global challenges, like COVID-19 on the ability of health systems to deliver effective and affordable services to the population. She is also interested in the design and effect of policy interventions targeted at making health systems more sustainable and resilient to future shocks.
Borghi’s background is in health economics, and she has experience leading research projects involving a range of methods including: economic evaluation of health care programs, mixed methods evaluation of complex interventions and theories of change, and most recently, system dynamics and agent based modeling.
Her research is primarily focused on vulnerable populations, such as mothers and children, refugees, and poor populations in low- and middle-income settings.
As part of her professional experience, Borghi had the opportunity to conduct research in a variety of countries all over the world, including Brazil, China, Lebanon, Malawi, Mexico, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda, West Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
Last update: 07 JAN 2026
Publications
Federspiel, F. & Borghi, J. (2026). Aid, Debt, IMF Conditionalities and Domestic Health Financing in Low- and Middle-Income Countries. Health Policy and Planning 10.1093/heapol/czag070. (In Press)
Loha, E., Somville, V., Borghi, J. , Binyaruka, P., & Mæstad, O. (2026). Does dosage matter? Effects of Results-based Financing layered on top of less comprehensive direct facility financing in Tanzania. Health Policy and Planning 10.1093/heapol/czag058. (In Press)
Mayhew, S.H., Ismail, S., Saulnier, D., Guinto, R.R., & Borghi, J. (2026). Aiming for transformation: Moving beyond adaptation to enabling environments for climate resilient health systems. Public Health e106186. 10.1016/j.puhe.2026.106186.
Chama-Chiliba, C.M., Sachingongu, N., Cassidy, R., Binyaruka, P., Chansa, C., Semwanga, A.R., & Borghi, J. (2025). Using causal loop diagrams to explore the maternal and child health system response to payment for performance in Zambia, and it’s generalisability across settings. SSM - Health Systems 5 e100082. 10.1016/j.ssmhs.2025.100082.
Binyaruka, P. & Borghi, J. (2025). Time to fully account for cost in monitoring financial protection and universal health coverage in low- and middle-income settings. Health Policy and Planning czaf085. 10.1093/heapol/czaf085.