Gill Walt
Biographic Data
| ID | 357752 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Gill Walt |
| GIVEN NAMES | Gill |
| FAMILY NAME | Walt |
| SIGNATURE | WALT G |
| AFFILIATIONS | London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 27 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 337 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 26 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1986 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 10 |
Celebrating the 40th anniversary of Health Policy and Planning
This year, 2026, we celebrate the 40th anniversary of this Journal, ‘Health Policy and Planning’. The journal was conceived in 1986 by Patrick Vaughan, Professor of Epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM). We sadly marked his recent death in Issue 8 of 2025. He and Gill Walt, now Emeritus Professor of International Health Policy, were its founding editors; Anne Mills was co-editor in 1986/7 and 1993–2001 and rem…
Evidence-informed policymaking and policy innovation in a low-income country
The application of social network analysis to policy networks continues to grow, including the application of social network analysis tools and concepts in order to explain policy outcomes. Gaps in this field of study persist in terms of both policy issues studied, as well as types of polities or networks analysed. This study extends previous research on the role of network structure in shaping policy outcomes by analysing network structure’s eff…
A framework on the emergence and effectiveness of global health networks
Since 1990 mortality and morbidity decline has been more extensive for some conditions prevalent in low- and middle-income countries than for others. One reason may be differences in the effectiveness of global health networks, which have proliferated in recent years. Some may be more capable than others in attracting attention to a condition, in generating funding, in developing interventions and in convincing national governments to adopt polic…
Why do policies change? Institutions, interests, ideas and networks in three cases of policy reform
Policy researchers have used various categories of variables to explain why policies change, including those related to institutions, interests and ideas. Recent research has paid growing attention to the role of policy networks-the actors involved in policy-making, their relationships with each other, and the structure formed by those relationships-in policy reform across settings and issues; however, this literature has largely ignored the theo…
The challenge of sustaining effectiveness over time
Where once global health decisions were largely the domain of national governments and the World Health Organization, today networks of international organizations, governments, private philanthropies and other entities are actively shaping public policy. However, there is still limited understanding of how global networks form, how they create institutions, how they promote and sustain collective action, and how they adapt to changes in the poli…
Scaling-up is a craft not a science
Donors and other development partners commonly introduce innovative practices and technologies to improve health in low and middle income countries. Yet many innovations that are effective in improving health and survival are slow to be translated into policy and implemented at scale. Understanding the factors influencing scale-up is important. We conducted a qualitative study involving 150 semi-structured interviews with government, development …
Circus monkeys or change agents? Civil society advocacy for HIV/Aids in adverse policy environments
National and subnational HIV/Aids coordination
BACKGROUND: A coordinated response to HIV/AIDS remains one of the 'grand challenges' facing policymakers today. Global health initiatives (GHIs) have the potential both to facilitate and exacerbate coordination at the national and subnational level. Evidence of the effects of GHIs on coordination is beginning to emerge but has hitherto been limited to single-country studies and broad-brush reviews. To date, no study has provided a focused synthes…
International Organizations in Transfer of Infectious Diseases
Over the past few years increasing attention has been given to the role of international organizations in the diffusion of policy ideas and promotion of particular macro‐level policies. Much of the attention has been on the ideological driving forces behind such policies, and on the extent to which the policies are externally imposed. There has been limited discussion on the bread‐and‐butter, technical policies of international organizations, and…
The politics of 'branding' in policy transfer
Poverty, Inequality and Health
Globalization and health
Globalization means different things to different people; a general definition is the increasing movement of information, material and people across borders. It can be considered in terms of five conflicting but inter-relating themes, economic transformation; new patterns of trade; an increasing poverty gap associated with widening health inequalities; the revolution in electronic communication; and the growing role of non-state actors, such as n…
Poverty, Inequality, and Health
Poverty, Inequality and Health: An International Perspective raises new and critical issues about health inequalities. It is unique in that it provides the first truly international perspective on this problem, with contributions from the developed and developing world. The outcome of a Public Health Forum organised by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, this book brings together material from internationally recognised contributo…
Do health care systems contribute to inequalities?
This chapter considers the role of health care systems in generating poverty and inequality. It argues that health care systems, as social institutions, are built out of the existing social structure and carry its inequalities within them. However, health care systems are also a key site for contestation of existing inequality: they offer a representation back to us of our societies' capacity for care, and a public space for reworking those capac…
Politics and fertility
Implementing the Integration of Component Services for Reproductive Health
In the wake of the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo, considerable activity has occurred both in national policymaking for reproductive health and in research on the implementation of the Cairo Program of Action. This report considers how effectively a key component of the Cairo agenda–integration of the management of sexually transmitted infections, including human immunodeficiency virus, with maternal and chil…
Family planning policies and programmes in eight low-income countries
An unruly mélange? Coordinating external resources to the health sector
WHO and the effects of extrabudgetary funds
The findings and conclusions of an international policy study are presented on the effects of donors and their voluntary financial contributions upon the World Health Organization. Such extrabudgetary funds now account for over a half of the total expenditure of the Organization and more than 80% of these funds come from a small group of 10 industrialized donor countries. This has led to widespread concerns that the Organization is being ‘donor d…
Reforming the health sector in developing countries
Policy analysis is an established discipline in the industrialized world, yet its application to developing countries has been limited. The health sector in particular appears to have been neglected. This is surprising because there is a well recognized crisis in health systems, and prescriptions abound of what health policy reforms countries should introduce. However, little attention has been paid to how countries should carry out reforms, much…
What role for WHO in the 1990s
Journal Article What role for WHO in the 1990s? Get access KELLEY LEE, KELLEY LEE 1Health Policy Unit, London School of Hygiene and Tropical MedicineUK Correspondence: Kelley Lee, Health Policy Unit, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Keppel Street, London WC1E 7HT, UK Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic PubMed Google Scholar GILL WALT GILL WALT 1Health Policy Unit, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine…
Are large-scale volunteer community health worker programmes feasible? The case of Sri Lanka
Ten best books in …health policy
Journal Article Ten best books in ...health policy Get access Gill Walt Gill Walt Evaluation and Planning Centre London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic PubMed Google Scholar Health Policy and Planning, Volume 3, Issue 4, December 1988, Pages 329–330, https://doi.org/10.1093/heapol/3.4.329 Published: 01 December 1988
CHWs
Community health workers (CHWs) have become the distinguishing feature of many primary health care schemes. CHW programmes expanded during the 1970s and early 1980s as long-term evidence for the effectiveness of small-scale programmes grew. However, there is a growing suggestion of a decline in support for CHWs. Criticisms have grown, evaluations of existing programmes have pointed to difficulties in implementation and a number of reviews have hi…
The dynamics of health policies in Mozambique 1975–85
In 1985 Mozambique commemorated its tenth year of independence against a background of a continuing need to defend the country, not only against the actions of the externally-backed Mozambique National Resistance (MNR), but also against drought, acute food shortages and a world economic recession. These external factors have significant implications for the Implementation of Mozambique's health policy. The MNR has chosen as deliberate targets for…
Reforming the health sector in developing countries
Policy analysis is an established discipline in the industrialized world, yet its application to developing countries has been limited. The health sector in particular appears to have been neglected. This is surprising because there is a well recognized crisis in health systems, and prescriptions abound of what health policy reforms countries should introduce. However, little attention has been paid to how countries should carry out reforms, much…
Why health improves
The politics of 'branding' in policy transfer
International Organizations in Transfer of Infectious Diseases
Over the past few years increasing attention has been given to the role of international organizations in the diffusion of policy ideas and promotion of particular macro‐level policies. Much of the attention has been on the ideological driving forces behind such policies, and on the extent to which the policies are externally imposed. There has been limited discussion on the bread‐and‐butter, technical policies of international organizations, and…
A framework on the emergence and effectiveness of global health networks
Since 1990 mortality and morbidity decline has been more extensive for some conditions prevalent in low- and middle-income countries than for others. One reason may be differences in the effectiveness of global health networks, which have proliferated in recent years. Some may be more capable than others in attracting attention to a condition, in generating funding, in developing interventions and in convincing national governments to adopt polic…
Implementing the Integration of Component Services for Reproductive Health
In the wake of the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo, considerable activity has occurred both in national policymaking for reproductive health and in research on the implementation of the Cairo Program of Action. This report considers how effectively a key component of the Cairo agenda–integration of the management of sexually transmitted infections, including human immunodeficiency virus, with maternal and chil…
Are large-scale volunteer community health worker programmes feasible? The case of Sri Lanka
Circus monkeys or change agents? Civil society advocacy for HIV/Aids in adverse policy environments
Family planning policies and programmes in eight low-income countries
CHWs
Community health workers (CHWs) have become the distinguishing feature of many primary health care schemes. CHW programmes expanded during the 1970s and early 1980s as long-term evidence for the effectiveness of small-scale programmes grew. However, there is a growing suggestion of a decline in support for CHWs. Criticisms have grown, evaluations of existing programmes have pointed to difficulties in implementation and a number of reviews have hi…
Why do policies change? Institutions, interests, ideas and networks in three cases of policy reform
Policy researchers have used various categories of variables to explain why policies change, including those related to institutions, interests and ideas. Recent research has paid growing attention to the role of policy networks-the actors involved in policy-making, their relationships with each other, and the structure formed by those relationships-in policy reform across settings and issues; however, this literature has largely ignored the theo…
The challenge of sustaining effectiveness over time
Where once global health decisions were largely the domain of national governments and the World Health Organization, today networks of international organizations, governments, private philanthropies and other entities are actively shaping public policy. However, there is still limited understanding of how global networks form, how they create institutions, how they promote and sustain collective action, and how they adapt to changes in the poli…
Scaling-up is a craft not a science
Donors and other development partners commonly introduce innovative practices and technologies to improve health in low and middle income countries. Yet many innovations that are effective in improving health and survival are slow to be translated into policy and implemented at scale. Understanding the factors influencing scale-up is important. We conducted a qualitative study involving 150 semi-structured interviews with government, development …
The dynamics of health policies in Mozambique 1975–85
In 1985 Mozambique commemorated its tenth year of independence against a background of a continuing need to defend the country, not only against the actions of the externally-backed Mozambique National Resistance (MNR), but also against drought, acute food shortages and a world economic recession. These external factors have significant implications for the Implementation of Mozambique's health policy. The MNR has chosen as deliberate targets for…
Evidence-informed policymaking and policy innovation in a low-income country
The application of social network analysis to policy networks continues to grow, including the application of social network analysis tools and concepts in order to explain policy outcomes. Gaps in this field of study persist in terms of both policy issues studied, as well as types of polities or networks analysed. This study extends previous research on the role of network structure in shaping policy outcomes by analysing network structure’s eff…
Politics and fertility
WHO and the effects of extrabudgetary funds
The findings and conclusions of an international policy study are presented on the effects of donors and their voluntary financial contributions upon the World Health Organization. Such extrabudgetary funds now account for over a half of the total expenditure of the Organization and more than 80% of these funds come from a small group of 10 industrialized donor countries. This has led to widespread concerns that the Organization is being ‘donor d…
To our readers
To our readers Get access PATRICK VAUGHAN, PATRICK VAUGHAN Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic PubMed Google Scholar GILL WALT, GILL WALT Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic PubMed Google Scholar NICOLA BENNETT-JONES NICOLA BENNETT-JONES Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic PubMed Google Scholar Health Policy and Planning, Volume 1, Issue 1, March 1986, Pages 3–4, https://doi.org/10…
The dynamics of health policies in Mozambique 1975–85
In 1985 Mozambique commemorated its tenth year of independence against a background of a continuing need to defend the country, not only against the actions of the externally-backed Mozambique National Resistance (MNR), but also against drought, acute food shortages and a world economic recession. These external factors have significant implications for the Implementation of Mozambique's health policy. The MNR has chosen as deliberate targets for…
To our readers
To our readers Get access PATRICK VAUGHAN, PATRICK VAUGHAN Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic PubMed Google Scholar GILL WALT, GILL WALT Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic PubMed Google Scholar NICOLA BENNETT-JONES NICOLA BENNETT-JONES Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic PubMed Google Scholar Health Policy and Planning, Volume 1, Issue 1, March 1986, Pages 3–4, https://doi.org/10…
Why health improves
Ten best books in …health policy
Journal Article Ten best books in ...health policy Get access Gill Walt Gill Walt Evaluation and Planning Centre London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic PubMed Google Scholar Health Policy and Planning, Volume 3, Issue 4, December 1988, Pages 329–330, https://doi.org/10.1093/heapol/3.4.329 Published: 01 December 1988
CHWs
Community health workers (CHWs) have become the distinguishing feature of many primary health care schemes. CHW programmes expanded during the 1970s and early 1980s as long-term evidence for the effectiveness of small-scale programmes grew. However, there is a growing suggestion of a decline in support for CHWs. Criticisms have grown, evaluations of existing programmes have pointed to difficulties in implementation and a number of reviews have hi…
Are large-scale volunteer community health worker programmes feasible? The case of Sri Lanka
What role for WHO in the 1990s
Journal Article What role for WHO in the 1990s? Get access KELLEY LEE, KELLEY LEE 1Health Policy Unit, London School of Hygiene and Tropical MedicineUK Correspondence: Kelley Lee, Health Policy Unit, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Keppel Street, London WC1E 7HT, UK Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic PubMed Google Scholar GILL WALT GILL WALT 1Health Policy Unit, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine…
Reforming the health sector in developing countries
Policy analysis is an established discipline in the industrialized world, yet its application to developing countries has been limited. The health sector in particular appears to have been neglected. This is surprising because there is a well recognized crisis in health systems, and prescriptions abound of what health policy reforms countries should introduce. However, little attention has been paid to how countries should carry out reforms, much…
WHO and the effects of extrabudgetary funds
The findings and conclusions of an international policy study are presented on the effects of donors and their voluntary financial contributions upon the World Health Organization. Such extrabudgetary funds now account for over a half of the total expenditure of the Organization and more than 80% of these funds come from a small group of 10 industrialized donor countries. This has led to widespread concerns that the Organization is being ‘donor d…
An unruly mélange? Coordinating external resources to the health sector
Family planning policies and programmes in eight low-income countries
Poverty, Inequality, and Health
Poverty, Inequality and Health: An International Perspective raises new and critical issues about health inequalities. It is unique in that it provides the first truly international perspective on this problem, with contributions from the developed and developing world. The outcome of a Public Health Forum organised by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, this book brings together material from internationally recognised contributo…
Do health care systems contribute to inequalities?
This chapter considers the role of health care systems in generating poverty and inequality. It argues that health care systems, as social institutions, are built out of the existing social structure and carry its inequalities within them. However, health care systems are also a key site for contestation of existing inequality: they offer a representation back to us of our societies' capacity for care, and a public space for reworking those capac…
Politics and fertility
Implementing the Integration of Component Services for Reproductive Health
In the wake of the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo, considerable activity has occurred both in national policymaking for reproductive health and in research on the implementation of the Cairo Program of Action. This report considers how effectively a key component of the Cairo agenda–integration of the management of sexually transmitted infections, including human immunodeficiency virus, with maternal and chil…
Poverty, Inequality and Health
Globalization and health
Globalization means different things to different people; a general definition is the increasing movement of information, material and people across borders. It can be considered in terms of five conflicting but inter-relating themes, economic transformation; new patterns of trade; an increasing poverty gap associated with widening health inequalities; the revolution in electronic communication; and the growing role of non-state actors, such as n…
The politics of 'branding' in policy transfer
International Organizations in Transfer of Infectious Diseases
Over the past few years increasing attention has been given to the role of international organizations in the diffusion of policy ideas and promotion of particular macro‐level policies. Much of the attention has been on the ideological driving forces behind such policies, and on the extent to which the policies are externally imposed. There has been limited discussion on the bread‐and‐butter, technical policies of international organizations, and…
National and subnational HIV/Aids coordination
BACKGROUND: A coordinated response to HIV/AIDS remains one of the 'grand challenges' facing policymakers today. Global health initiatives (GHIs) have the potential both to facilitate and exacerbate coordination at the national and subnational level. Evidence of the effects of GHIs on coordination is beginning to emerge but has hitherto been limited to single-country studies and broad-brush reviews. To date, no study has provided a focused synthes…
Circus monkeys or change agents? Civil society advocacy for HIV/Aids in adverse policy environments
Scaling-up is a craft not a science
Donors and other development partners commonly introduce innovative practices and technologies to improve health in low and middle income countries. Yet many innovations that are effective in improving health and survival are slow to be translated into policy and implemented at scale. Understanding the factors influencing scale-up is important. We conducted a qualitative study involving 150 semi-structured interviews with government, development …
A framework on the emergence and effectiveness of global health networks
Since 1990 mortality and morbidity decline has been more extensive for some conditions prevalent in low- and middle-income countries than for others. One reason may be differences in the effectiveness of global health networks, which have proliferated in recent years. Some may be more capable than others in attracting attention to a condition, in generating funding, in developing interventions and in convincing national governments to adopt polic…
Why do policies change? Institutions, interests, ideas and networks in three cases of policy reform
Policy researchers have used various categories of variables to explain why policies change, including those related to institutions, interests and ideas. Recent research has paid growing attention to the role of policy networks-the actors involved in policy-making, their relationships with each other, and the structure formed by those relationships-in policy reform across settings and issues; however, this literature has largely ignored the theo…
The challenge of sustaining effectiveness over time
Where once global health decisions were largely the domain of national governments and the World Health Organization, today networks of international organizations, governments, private philanthropies and other entities are actively shaping public policy. However, there is still limited understanding of how global networks form, how they create institutions, how they promote and sustain collective action, and how they adapt to changes in the poli…
Economics (21 works) · Political science (21 works) · Economic growth (19 works) · Medicine (14 works) · Sociology (12 works) · Business (11 works) · Global Maternal and Child Health (10 works) · Global Public Health Policies and Epidemiology (10 works) · Public health (10 works) · Public relations (10 works)