Simulation-based interactive design of optimal service models

The aim of this work package will be to synthesis the evidence from the other work packages to develop conceptual and decision-analytic models, taking into account costs and benefits, of health care provision and usage in slums. The work package also aims to provide tools for future evaluation of service delivery and health care policy-making.

The first stage of the work package is to identify what health services are available to slum residents (i.e. health care system structure) and to consider what would constitute sub-optimal care in these settings. Determining ‘optimality’ in this context will need to take into account pragmatic factors such as affordability, economic factors such as technical efficiency, and normative considerations, such as equity of access. This theoretical perspective will underlie the analyses of how health system structure relates to its function.