dr.(med.) Pavitra PAUL, PhD.(health economics) 

Biographical sketch

Dr. PAUL Pavitra, PhD. is an economist working at the intersection of health and wellbeing, and sustainable development. He is a development practitioner providing consulting services to multilateral organisations and international development agencies for “science to policy and action”.  He conducts periodic practice-based workshops on “Discrete Choice Modelling” and “Measurements of Equity” for empowering policy practitioners, development professionals and researchers in different geographies. Since March 2023, he is working on the title, “Contributions to Decision Making in Health Economics” for his Habilitation à Diriger des Recherches (HDR) from Institut du Management, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Santé Publique (EHESP), 35043 Rennes, France.

He is a Research Professor (Adjunct) in the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania. With his affiliation as a Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Public Health, Yerevan State Medical University, he is the Principal Investigator for the implementation research, “circularity of medical wastes” involving Armenia, Georgia, Ghana, and Nepal under the aegis of Yerevan State Medical University, Yerevan, Armenia - https://ysmu.am/en/research_platform/ . His research streams are (1) evaluating public policy, and equity of health policies and healthcare services, (2) choice modelling for healthcare service/s consumption and welfare measures, and (3) measuring health systems’ performance. He is having an advanced level of training (s) in (1) "Evaluation Management", and (2)  “Circular Economy and the 2030 Agenda” from United Nations System Staff College -  Knowledge Centre for Sustainable Development, Bonn 53175, Germany; (3) “Policy Coherence for Sustainable Development” from United Nations System Staff College, Turin, Italy; and (4) in “International Health and Policy Evaluation” from Erasmus University, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. His scientific publications can be accessed in https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Pavitra_Paul  . 

Pavitra is spearheading the ongoing initiative of “Examining Health Systems’ efficiency” under the auspices of International Health Economics Association - https://healtheconomics.org/sigs/eff/ . Dr. PAUL was an “Academy of Finland” scholar [Grant number: 318573; 2018] in 2018 - 2019 for his study, “the welfare effect of choice in a compulsory insurance based health system in the Russian Federation”.

Dr. PAUL is a member of the Doctoral Advisory Committee (DAC) of Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai, India. During the period between 2012 and 2018, Pavitra was the course teacher for “Public Health Economics”, “Health Policy” and “Health Systems” in the Master’s program of University of Eastern Finland, Finland. Till 2019, he was uninterruptedly an European Union Erasmus + teacher for “Public Health Economics” course in MPH program of Rīga Stradiņš University, RIga, Latvija, the course that Pavitra has introduced in 2014.

Dr. PAUL is a member in the scientific review panel (s) of (1) Applied Economics;  (2) BMC Health Services Research; (3) European Review; (4) International Journal for Equity in Health; (5) International Journal of Health Economics and Management; (6) Medical Decision Making; (7) PLOS One; (8) Social Science and Medicine; (9) Transportmetrica A: Transport Science; and so on - https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1428-6882 .

Pavitra is trained in medicine with his Baccalaureate from North Bengal University, India. He is an alumnus from Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), India; The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), United Kingdom; Erasmus University, The Netherlands; University of Lausanne (SSPH+), Switzerland; and University of Eastern Finland, Finland.

Une esquisse biographique

Dr. PAUL Pavitra, PhD. est économiste de la santé, travaillant dans les domaines de la santé, du bien-être et du développement durable. Il est affilié à l'Université médicale d'Erevan en tant que professeur invité au département de santé publique. Il est professeur-chercheur (adjoint) à la Faculté d'économie et d'administration des affaires, Université Babeș-Bolyai, Cluj-Napoca, Roumanie. 

Ses domaines de recherche sont (1) l’étude des relations entre vulnérabilité socioéconomique et  santé, (2) l’évaluation des politiques publiques, de l'équité des politiques de  santé et des services de  santé, (3) la mesure de la performance des systèmes de santé, et (4) la modélisation des choix de consommation des services de santé et mesures du bien-être. Il a un niveau avancé de formation en «Évaluation internationale de la santé et des politiques» de l'Université Erasmus à Rotterdam aux Pays-Bas, et en «Cohérence des politiques pour le développement durable» de l'École des cadres du système des Nations Unies à Turin, en Italie. Ses publications scientifiques sont accessibles à l’adresse suivante : https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Pavitra_Paul  .  

Pavitra est à la tête de l'initiative en cours «Examiner l'efficacité des systèmes de santé» sous les auspices de l'International Health Economics Association - https://healtheconomics.org/sigs/eff/  . Le Dr PAUL était un boursier de l'Académie de Finlande [Numéro de subvention: 318573; 2018] en 2018 - 2019 pour son recherche, «l'effet de bien-être du choix dans un système de santé basé sur l'assurance obligatoire en Fédération de Russie».

Pavitra était enseignant du cours «Économie de la santé publique» et «Systèmes de santé» dans le programme de maîtrise de l'Université de Finlande orientale en Finlande. Jusqu'en 2019, il a été, sans interruption, l’enseignant Erasmus + de l'Union européenne pour le cours «Économie de la santé publique» du programme de Master Santé  Publique (MPH) à l'Université du Rīga Stradiņš, RIga, le cours que Pavitra a introduit en 2014. 

Outre son engagement profond au sein de l’Association internationale d’économie de la santé (iHEA), Dr. PAUL est également engagé aux côtés du Collège des économistes de la santé (CES).  Il est membre du(des) comité(s) de revue du scientifique de (1) Applied Economics; (2) Journal internationale pour l'équité en santé; et (3) Journal internationale d'économie et de gestion de la santé.

Dr. PAUL est diplômé de médecine de l'université du Bengal du Nord en Inde. Il est un ancien élève du Tata Institut des sciences du sociales (TISS) en Inde, du London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) au Royaume-Uni, de l'université d'Erasmus aux Pays-Bas, de l'université orientale de Finlande, l'université de Lausanne (SSPH+), et du Collège du personnel du système des Nations Unies en Italie. 

Il est pratiquant et enseignant du "Yoga intégral" de Sri Aurobindo, avec des enseignements (y compris une certification) du Centre Gnostique en Inde -  https://gnostic.in/ . Il conduit des séances par intermittence sur le « yoga intégral » pour des groupes et des individus d'Europe et d'Asie centrale. Il est passionné de tennis et de piano.


List of publications

[This paper investigates how differences in perceived brute luck influence individual preferences for redistribution in favour of two public policies: “health intervention” and “environmental actions”].

Ventelou Bruno (2022): “Do Efficiency and Equity move together? - Cross-dynamics of Health System Performance and Universal Health Coverage”.

Humanit Soc Sci Commun 9(293),  https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-022-01271-9  

[This study examines the direction of causality between progress towards Universal Health Coverage and the performance of the national health system].

[This study operationalises a recursive semi - ordered probit model to examine endogeneity problem of perceived health and finds the answer to the question of effect of diagnosed chronic disease, on different levels of perceived health status].

[This study (1) identifies the determinants of malnutrition and distribution of stunting within socioeconomic groups, (2) examines the malnutrition gap between poor and non-poor and (3) estimates the magnitude of inequality in stunting in Armenia].

[This study examines the effect of (1) changes in the distribution of socioeconomic position on out-of-pocket healthcare expenditure distribution and (2) urban-rural segmentation of population in the distribution of out-of-pocket healthcare expenditure].

[This empirical study compares two approaches - regret minimization and utility maximization in choice modelling using Swiss hospitalisation data (2005-2012)].

[This study identifies the determinants of health inequalities in Latvian population and estimates the changes over time in proportional contribution of different socioeconomic strata related determinants in Latvian health inequalities].

[This paper estimates the magnitude of health inequalities ascribed to socioeconomic strata from 1994 to 2013 in the Russian Federation].

[This paper examines the relationship between the perceived health status of the population and the satisfaction with healthcare services].

[This paper examines health inequalities and estimates the contributions of demography and socioeconomic strata in the production of perceived health over time].

[This study analyses the relative efficiency of primary healthcare services facilities and identifies the factors associated with the efficiency of health facilities in Afghanistan].

[This study examines the distribution of health determinants, identifies the relationship between the structural and material determinants of health, and estimates the effects of the Afghan districts on health determinants in Afghanistan].


Publication [other than English language]

Павитра Пол, Ханну Валтонен, Ковтун Наталья. Социально-экономическое неравенство населе-ния в области здоровья в постсоветской России // Народонаселение. — 2019 –Т. 22. — № 1 — С.61-78. [English translation: Pavitra Paul, Hannu Valtonen, Kovtun Natalia. Socioeconomic inequalities in health in the post-Soviet Russia. Narodonaselenie (Population) - 2019. Vol. 22. No. 1. P. 61-78].


Chapter in the Book (forthcoming, July 2024).

Pavitra Paul. “The Russian Federation” in Public Policy Challenges in Rethinking Public Health, (eds.) Katherine Fierlbeck (a McCulloch Research Professor and Chair of the Department of Political Science at Dalhousie University) and Peter Berman (a Professor Emeritus at the University of British Columbia School of Population and Public Health, and an Adjunct Professor of Global Health at the Harvard TH. Chan School of Public Health); World Scientific Publishing, Singapore, 2024.


Manuscripts under review

1.    Paul Pavitra and Yuvaraj Krishnamoorthy (2024): ”How diverse is India’s diversity? - An Empirical illustration from the Life Years Lost and the Lost Productivity  between 2013 and 2019”.

[This study establishes the need for the disease specific SEYLL computation for an efficient allocation of resources in the states of India].

2.      Paul Pavitra and Eduardo Daniel López-Vila (2023): ”The burden of diseases and injury through the lens of Standard Expected Years of Life Lost: the lost productivity and the distribution of health attainment in countries of different health systems”.

[Using country-specific subnational level data, we have quantified the burden of diseases and the consequential lost productivity with our 3P approach (population, participation and productivity) in two lower middle-income countries i.e., India and Kyrgyzstan; three upper middle-income countries i.e., Belarus, Kazakhstan and the Russian Federation; and one high-income country, France. Thus, this study offers an approach that has the potential to be used in the poverty alleviation programme in low – and middle-income countries]. 

3.  Paul Pavitra, Gilev Denis and Mateu Guillermo (2020): “Choice for primary healthcare services and Welfare: an empirical illustration from the Russian Federation”.

[This study measures welfare derived from availing primary healthcare services based on individual attributes and freedom of choice, and empirically illustrated a potential opportunity for social choice and decision theory to converge for bringing efficiency in health system].

Press article