Services
Consulting Services
I have worked at and with a number of economic consulting firms since the start of my career in 2005, exposing me to the structures and processes of economic and strategic consulting work.
Below I have included examples of projects I have worked on in recent years, including some in the academic space.
Project experience across sectors
Health
Primary healthcare innovation
Project manager for a project on primary healthcare innovation in a South African province (2019-2022) with the relevant provincial department of health. The project was aimed at redesigning the delivery of primary healthcare services to better meet population health needs within budgetary constraints. It was strongly focused on supporting the provincial department of health with experimentation with certain innovative health delivery modalities, as well as better aligning the budgeting process with population health needs and quality of healthcare.
Telemedicine and telehealth
Project manager and lead technical expert for telemedicine landscaping study and a series of case studies on digital innovations in the delivery of primary healthcare in Africa. (2021-early 2022).
Strategic lead on a moonshot for private health insurance (for the UNDP) as enabled by telehealth in Sub-Saharan Africa. The aim of the project was to quantify the potential of telehealth to enable the provision of health insurance coverage to a much greater part of the population in Sub-Saharan Africa. 2021-2022.
Health financing strategy
Project manager and technical lead of the development of a health finance strategy for an organisation aimed at deepening financial sectors in Africa through innovative finance for the next five years. Key focus areas of the strategy were value-based care and building health data and information systems to create more integrated health sectors in Sub-Saharan Africa. 2021.
Project manager and technical lead on multiple studies on health financing and universal health coverage in South Africa for the Inclusive Society Institute from 2020 onwards.
Human Resources for Health (HRH)
Core team member on a project focused on estimating the supply and demand of medical specialists in South Africa, funded by the Discovery Foundation (2018 to early 2020). The aim of this research was to produce a projection of the supply of and need for medical specialist resources in South Africa, as a tool to facilitate Human Resources for Health (HRH) planning in the country. The project focused on 26 specialities (dental specialities are excluded).
Child Nutrition
Researcher, Child nutrition and farm input subsidies: The complementary role of early healthcare and nutrition programs in Malawi (published academic paper). 2022.
Education
Post-school education
Project manager and researcher for a report for the (South African) Department of Higher Education and Training: Post-school Education and Training Monitor. 2019.
Basic education access and outcomes
Researcher and drafter for the Namibian School Examination Outcomes and Trends (report): Two linked studies for the Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture and UNICEF. 2019.
Financial services
Unintended consequences of international financial standards for financial inclusion
Researcher on a project on South Africa’s engagement with the standard setting bodies and the implications for financial inclusion. Report/case study for the Alliance for Financial Inclusion. 2011.
Researcher on a study on Kenya’s engagement with the standard setting bodies and the implications for financial inclusion. Report/case study for the Alliance for Financial Inclusion. 2011.
Researcher on a study on Implementing FATF standards in developing countries and financial inclusion: Findings and guidelines. Study for the World Bank and First Initiative. 2008.
Microinsurance market diagnostics
Lead researcher for a study on Kenya’s microinsurance landscape. Market and regulatory analysis. December 2010.
Lead researcher on a study on Ethiopia’s microinsurance landscape. Market and regulatory analysis. January 2010.
Researcher on a study on Making insurance markets work for the poor: microinsurance policy, regulation and supervision; Uganda case study. 2008.
Health
(Newest projects)
Expert commentary and analysis of the National Health Insurance (NHI)
I provided analytical and expert commentary services on the NHI Act to an economic analysis firm during 2025. I also wrote two notes for the Bureau for Economic Research (BER) on the impact of the NHI Act on South Africa’s health financing landscape during 2024 and 2025.
The notes can be accessed via the Bureau for Economic Research’s website:
The National Health Insurance Act: Can we balance access, quality AND cost of healthcare? (June 2024)
In implementing the NHI Act, can we return to working with what we have? (April 2025)
Please contact me for access to the first note. The BER website currently indicates that it is for clients only, but it has been reclassified as a public access note a while after its release.
In The Media: Writing & curiosity
With NHI uncertain, we must work with what we have (April 2025)
ANJA SMITH AND CLAIRE BISSEKER: With NHI uncertain, we must work with what we have
Academic publications:
Dumisani Hompashe, Gerdtham U.G., Christian, C. Smith, A. & Burger, R. 2021. ‘The nurse did not even greet me’: how informed versus non-informed patients evaluate health systems responsiveness in South Africa. April. 6(4). British Medical Journal Global Health.
Burger, R., Christian, C., Gerdtham, Ulf-G.; Haal, K.; Hompashe, D. Smith, A., Schutte, Aletta. 2020. Use of simulated patients to assess hypertension case management at public healthcare facilities in South Africa. Journal of Hypertension. 38(2): 362-367.
Smith, A., Burger, R. & Black, V. 2019. Demand-side causes and covariates of late antenatal care access in Cape Town, South Africa. Maternal and Child Health Journal. 23(4): 512-52.
Smith, A., Ranchod, S., Strugnell, D. & Wishnia. J. 2018. Human Resources for Health planning: The urgency and the opportunity. South African Health Review 2018. December. Durban: Health Systems Trust. 23-31.
Haal, K., Smith, A. & van Doorslaer, E. 2018. The rise and fall of mortality inequality in South Africa in the HIV era. Social Science & Medicine: Population Health. Online.
Christian, C.S., Gerdtham, U.G., Hompashe, D., Smith, A. & Burger, R. 2018. Measuring quality gaps in TB screening in South Africa using standardised patient analysis. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 15: 729; doi:10.3390/ijerph15040729
Ranchod, S., Adams, C., Burger, R., Carvounes, A., Dreyer, K., Smith, A., Stewart, J., van Biljon, C. 2017. South Africa’s hospital sector: old divisions and new developments. South African Health Review 2017. Durban: Health Systems Trust. 101-110.
Rossouw, L. & Smith, A. 2017. A comparable yardstick: adjusting for education bias in South African health system responsiveness ratings. Health Policy and Planning. 32(Supplement 3): iii67-iii74.
Burger, R., Ranchod, S., Rossouw, L., & Smith, A. 2016. Strengthening the measurement of quality of public health care. 2016. In Padarath, A., King, J., Mackie, E.L and Casciola, J (eds.). South African Health Review 2016. Durban: Health Systems Trust. pp.191-199.
Smith, A., Burger, R.., Claassens, M., Ayles, H., Godfrey-Fausset, P. & Beyers, N. 2016. Gender bias may contribute to missed TB cases in South Africa. International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease. 20(3):350–356.