Adeel Ishtiaq is a fellow in the global health practice at Results for Development (R4D) and a specialist in health systems strengthening and health financing reform for universal health coverage (UHC). His recent work covers enhancing health system financing for non-communicable diseases and rehabilitation services, strengthening and scaling up national systems for safe blood transfusions to reduce maternal mortality from postpartum hemorrhage, integrating mental health and psychosocial services within comprehensive primary healthcare (PHC), and improving public sector stewardship and financing of privately provided PHC services. Overall, Adeel’s work spans health system integration and sustainable financing of primary healthcare writ large — including priority health and disease areas like family planning and reproductive health, maternal and child health, HIV, nutrition and neglected tropical diseases.
Key themes in Adeel’s repertoire include: design of pooling-purchasing strategies for financing UHC, reform of public financial management and strategic purchasing modalities, approaches for enhancing fiscal space and domestic resource mobilization, strengthening governance arrangements and institutional alignment, integration of vertical programs into health systems and transition from donor assistance, public-private engagement to improve the performance of mixed health systems, sustainability of health commodities and supply chains, and key analytics such as costing and gap analyses. In addition to global-level analysis and engagement activities, he has worked on country-focused projects in East, West, and Southern Africa, South and Southeast Asia, and Eastern Europe.
Adeel has also previously worked in financial risk management in banking and consulted for the Capacity Development Office of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the UN Secretariat.
Adeel holds an MA in international relations from Yale University — where he was a Jelke Fellow concentrating in international macroeconomic policymaking — and a BA in economics from LUMS University in Pakistan. At Yale, he headed the International and Area Studies Students Association, researched Yale’s international educational resources for federal Title VI funding at the university’s Macmillan Center, and served as a managing editor for the Yale Journal of International Affairs. He is fluent in English, Urdu-Hindi, and Punjabi.
