Prof. Helen Schneider
PhD (Public Health) (Cape Town), MBChB (Cape Town), MMed (Witwatersrand), DCH (SA College of Medicine), DTMH (Witwatersrand)
Professor and SARCHI Chair
E: hschneider@uwc.ac.za
Helen Schneider is a health policy and systems researcher working on themes of health systems strengthening in South Africa’s health system and beyond, with core interests in governance and leadership, primary health care and district health systems.
Helen Schneider joined the SOPH in 2011 and was its director from 2013 to 2016. Since 2015, she has been the director of the UWC/MRC Health Services to Systems Research Unit, and in 2016 was awarded a South African Research Chair (SARChI) in Health Systems Governance. She convened the SOPH doctoral programme from 2017 to early 2024.
Helen’s current and recent research activities include evaluation of health system development in the Western Cape Province, meso-level stewardship of quality and outcomes, distributed leadership in local health systems and intersectoral collaboration. In 2023, Helen co-initiated, with UCT, the South African Learning Alliance for District Health Systems a learning network bringing together higher education institutions and health system managers across the country. Helen is Chair of the Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee (STAC) of WHO’s Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research
Helen is an NRF B2 rated scientist
Related Projects
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The HC2030 review project: Whole Systems Change in South Africa: Understanding the experience of health system transformation in the Western Cape Province 2016-2023. (Jointly with UCT and Western Cape Department of Health & Wellness)
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Leadership and management development needs and competencies in Bojanala Health District, North West Province Jointly with UCT, North West University and North West Department of Health)
Projects
In the news
What are health policy and systems research priorities for universal health coverage in South Africa
By: Helen Schneider, T Kredo, W Odendaal, F Abdullah
District Governance and Improved Maternal, Neonatal and Child Health in South Africa: Pathways of Change
Staff inolved: Helen Schneider, Asha George, Fidele Mukinda and Hanani Tabana
Working Towards Inclusive, Socially Accountable and Resilient Community Health Systems: An Introduction to a Special Issue
Staff inolved: Charles Michelo, Anna-Karin Hurtig, Helen Schneider
Exploring Politics and Contestation in the Policy Process- The Case of Zambia’s Contested Community Health
Staff inolved: Joseph M. Zulu, Maligzani P. Chavula, Adam Silumbwe, Margarate N. Munakampe, Chama Mulubwa, Wanga Zulu, Charles Michelo, Helen Schneider, Uta Lehmann
Prof Helen Schneider receives the DVC Special Recognition Awards in Research and Innovation
The 2021 virtual Research Recognition Awards celebrated UWC’s achievements and milestones in Research and Innovation.
Local Dynamics of Collaboration for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health: A Social Network Analysis of Healthcare Providers and Their Managers in Gert Sibande District, South Africa
Staff inolved: Fidele Kanyimbu Mukinda, Sara Van Belle, Helen Schneider
Practice of death surveillance and response for maternal, newborn and child health: a framework and application to a South African health district
Staff inolved: Fidele Mukinda, Asha George, Sara Van Belle, Helen Schneider
Developing a district level supportive supervision framework for community health workers through co-production in South Africa
Staff inolved: Tumelo Assegaai, Helen Schneider and Vera Scott
Scoping review protocol of service delivery-related interventions to improve maternal and newborn health in low-income and middle-income countries
Staff inolved: Solange Mianda and Olamide Todowede and Helen Schneider
Policy Adoption and the Implementation Woes of the Intersectoral First 1000 Days of Childhood Initiative, In the Western Cape Province of South Africa
Staff inolved: Ida Okeyo, Uta Lehmann, Helen Schneider
Reimagining health in the Eastern Cape: A dysfunctional public health system is not inevitable
The persistent challenges in public health in the Eastern Cape, highlight the critical role of leadership.
What lessons to draw from COVID-19 in Cape Town?
As public health researchers and educators in a city currently experiencing a seemingly runaway COVID-19 epidemic, we are increasingly being approached to provide our ‘expert’ opinion on the reasons for this.
New book with contribution from SOPH colleagues out! Health for the People: National Community Health Worker Programs from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe
Rebuilding health systems from the bottom up: a South African case study, by Helen Schneider
The recent publication of the National Health Insurance Bill in South Africa has provoked vigorous debate.
Assessing community health worker programme governance: A guiding framework, by Helen Schneider
Based on research on the real-life tasks and challenges faced by policy-makers and managers in taking CHW programmes to scale, and drawing on conceptual and empirical literature on governance,5 this brief presents a framework structured around a set of key questions to ask in assessing the governance of CHW programmes.