Dr. Syed Abdul Hamid is a leading health economist in Bangladesh and currently, a Professor at the Institute of Health Economics (IHE). He served the institute as the Director during 2016-2019. He obtained his PhD in Health Economics from the University of Sheffield, UK in 2009 and M.Sc. in Health Economics from the University of York, UK in 2002. Previously, he obtained his BSS (Hons.) and MSS in Economics from the University of Dhaka. Dr. Hamid has 23 years of extensive teaching and research experience in Health Economics. His research mainly focuses on health, population, nutrition, food safety, social safety net and education. Dr. Hamid is a versatile expert in the field of Health Economics, Public Health, Nutrition and Population.

Dr. Hamid played a significant role for control measures of COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh in all dimensions including collecting fund and distributing PPE to the health workforce, advising to the relevant bodies by both print and electronic media and conducting research. He wrote about 50 articles in daily newspapers on different issues of COVID-19 control measures. He led a team to conduct a study on Vaccination against COVID-19: The underlying factors for changing hesitancy in Bangladesh. He estimated the economic burden of lockdown imposed for controlling the COVID-19 pandemic for the first time in Bangladesh. He also led a team to prepare guideline for RMG sector to open the factories amid COVId-19 pandemic.

Urban health is a key focused area of his work. He worked as the technical consultant for designing National Urban Health Strategy 2020. He led the team to design an innovative model for ensuring access to primary health care of urban dwellers. This model is being piloted by UNICEF. He also worked for Abt Associates to analyze the Landscape of Urban Health Financing and Governance in Bangladesh. He is currently leading a team which is assessing the role of local government to facilitate health services in urban areas.

Conducting feasibility study including Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) is another key area of his works. He was the team leader of conducting feasibility study and Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) in several projects including three Medical Universities, six Medical College Colleges, six Nursing Colleges, 19 hostels in 10 medical colleges, Community Clinics, Universal Child Benefit Package, health component of ENRICH program of PKSF, etc. Health care financing is another core area of his work. Dr. Hamid has played a pioneering role of designing and implementing the health insurance for university students in Bangladesh. Thereafter, he developed the concept note for designing health insurance for civil servants of Bangladesh and currently, he is leading a team which is involved in designing health insurance for government employees of Bangladesh. Dr. Hamid is the leading health insurance expert in the country and has recently developed an innovative health insurance product for financing cancer and kidney treatment in Bangladesh. He has also worked on livestock micro insurance. He has conducted several studies on demand for health insurance, impact evaluation of micro health insurance schemes, impact evaluation of health insurance schemes implemented in the RMG and leather good and footwear sectors, group health scheme of the university students and so on. He has published widely in the peer reviewed international journals.

Nutrition is another focus area of his work. He teaches Nutrition Economics in the Institute and currently leads a team which is assessing the role of local government in reproductive health and nutrition services. Previously he assessed the nutrition component of PKSK and published a chapter in the book entitled “Nutritional Wellbeing for Sustainable Development”. He has the experience to work with UNICEF and FAO on nutrition issues. He also worked on food safety issues with Bangladesh Food Safety Authority.

Dr. Hamid has extensive work experience on urban health, community clinics, inequity, and quality of health care of the health and nutrition programs. He recently led a team which was engaged in designing an innovative model for primary health care in urban areas piloted by UNICEF. He was a key member of the team who developed Urban Health Strategy 2020. He was a key member of the research team who was engaged in “Independent Evaluation of Community Clinics” of WHO. Dr. Hamid led the cost-benefit analysis of community clinics implemented in the rural areas of Bangladesh. He has also worked extensively on the social safety net programs (e.g., maternity allowance, lactating mother allowance programs).

Dr. Hamid has worked extensively with the government bodies including Cabinet Division. He worked as a National Expert with Cabinet Division for implementing Evidenced Informed Policy Making (EIPM) under Building Capacity Using Research Evidence (BCURE) project. He has worked on Costed Reform of Maternity Allowance and Lactating Mother Allowance Schemes of the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs. Government has implemented the key reform packages suggested in the study. He has also conducted Costed Implementation Plan (CIP) of Family Planning, Maternal and Lactating Mother Allowance Scheme, and old age allowance and husband disserted destitute allowance programs.

Dr. Hamid holds important positions in some prestigious organizations: Founding President of Bangladesh Health Economist Forum, Founding Board Member of Surjer Hashi Network (SHN), Chief Adviser of Universal Research Care Ltd., member of food safety related Curriculum Development Committee of Bangladesh Food Safety Authority, member of Technical Advisory Committee for the Revision of Health Care Financing Strategy, etc.