Joe Kutzin is a recognized leader in developing and applying core concepts in health financing and systems reform for universal health coverage. He is a health economist with over 35 years of experience in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Europe and the United States.
During his career with the World Health Organization (WHO), he served in Kyrgyzstan as Policy Advisor to the Ministry of Health, in Copenhagen and Barcelona as the European Regional Office’s lead advisor on health financing, and in Headquarters where he led the health financing team. Prior to joining WHO, he worked for the World Bank and the Project HOPE Center for Health Affairs.
Mr. Kutzin has published numerous conceptual and empirical articles and book chapters on health systems, health financing and Universal Health Coverage. Highlights include his 2001 publication that laid out the functional approach to health financing, his role as lead editor and main author of a 2010 book on implementing health financing reforms in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, and his lead authorship of a paper synthesizing key lessons on financing for universal health coverage in the 2016 Handbook of Global Health Economics and Public Policy. He also contributed to the revision of the System of Health Accounts to separate the reporting of the sources of health spending from the financing arrangements through which expenditures are made. Most recently, he was part of a WHO team developing guidance for recovery of the health system in Ukraine in collaboration with staff from the World Bank, USAID and the European Commission.
Mr. Kutzin holds a BA from the State University of New York at Binghamton, as well as an MA in Development Economics from Boston University. In 2012, he received an Honorary Doctorate from Semmelweis University in Budapest. He currently lives near Geneva, Switzerland.
Publications
Selected journal articles, books and book chapters
- Kutzin, J, S Dalil, H Barroy, S Barkley, F Dkhimi, M Jowett, R Marten, I Mathauer, B Meessen, S Sparkes, K Xu (2022). An assertive, practical, and substantive agenda to catalyse meaningful change. The Lancet Global Health 10(5):E606-608. (commentary on the Lancet Global Health Commission Report on Financing of Primary Health Care)
- Sparkes, SP, PH-V Eozenou, D Evans, C Kurowski, J Kutzin, A Tandon (2021). Will the quest for UHC be derailed? Health Systems and Reform 7(2).
- Kutzin, J, S Sparkes, A Soucat, H Barroy (2018). “From silos to sustainability: transition through a UHC lens.” The Lancet DOI.
- Kutzin, J, W Yip, C Cashin (2016). “Alternative financing strategies for Universal Health Coverage.” In Scheffler, RM, ed. Handbook of Global Health Economics and Public Policy. Volume 1; Ch. 5 p.267-309 – The Economics of Health and Health Systems. World Scientific Publishing.
- Kutzin, J, and SP Sparkes (2016). “Health systems strengthening, universal health coverage, health security and resilience.” Bulletin of the World Health Organization 94(1):2.
- Kutzin, J (2013). “Health financing for universal coverage and health system performance: concepts and implications for policy.” Bulletin of the World Health Organization 91(8):602-611.
- Kutzin, J (2012). “Anything goes on the path to universal health coverage? No.” Bulletin of the World Health Organization 90:867–868.
- Kutzin, J, C Cashin, M Jakab, eds. (2010). Implementing Health Financing Reform: Lessons from Countries in Transition. Copenhagen, Denmark: World Health Organization, on behalf of the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies.
- Kutzin, J, A Ibraimova, M Jakab, S O’Dougherty (2009). “Bismarck meets Beveridge on the Silk Road: coordinating funding sources to create a universal health financing system in Kyrgyzstan.” Bulletin of the World Health Organization 87:549-554.
- Mossialos, E, A Dixon, J Figueras, J Kutzin, Eds. (2002). Funding Health Care in Europe. European Observatory on Health Care Systems. Buckingham, England: Open University Press.
- Nyonator, F and J Kutzin (1999). “Health for some? The effects of user fees in the Volta Region of Ghana.” Health Policy and Planning 14(4):329-341.
- Barnum, H and J Kutzin (1993). Public Hospitals in Developing Countries: Resource Use, Cost, Financing. Baltimore and London: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Published working papers and reports
- Xu, K, M Aranguren Garcia, J Dupuy, N Eigo, C Indikadahena, J Kutzin, D Li, L McDonald, L Rivas, A Siroka, H Touré, E Zver (2022). Global spending on health: rising to the pandemic’s challenges. Geneva: World Health Organization.
- Kutzin, J, K Fishchuk, S O’Dougherty (2022). Principles to guide health system recovery and transformation in Ukraine. Copenhagen: World Health Organization, Regional Office for Europe.
- Jowett, M, J Kutzin, S Kwon, J Hsu, J Sallaku, JG Salano (2020). Assessing country health financing systems: the health financing progress matrix. Geneva: World Health Organization.
- Kutzin, J, S Witter, M Jowett, D Bayarsaikhan (2017). Developing a national health financing strategy: a reference guide. Health Financing Guidance No.3. Geneva: World Health Organization.
- Sparkes, S, A Durán, J Kutzin (2017). A system-wide approach to analysing efficiency across health programmes. Health Financing Guidance No.2. Geneva: World Health Organization.
- Kutzin, J (1997). “Health insurance for the formal sector in Africa: yes, but…” WHO/ARA/CC/97.4. Current Concerns, ARA Paper number 14. Geneva: World Health Organization, Division of Analysis, Research and Assessment.
Blogs and podcasts
- Spotlight on Universal Health Coverage: Financing UHC. 6 April 2023. The Lancet Voice podcast with Irene Agyepong and Joseph Kutzin.
- Barroy, H and J Kutzin. “COVID-19 as an opportunity for PFM transformation in health.” 14 February 2022.
- Barroy, H, S Gurazada, M Piatti-Fünfkirchen, J Kutzin. “No calm after the storm: retooling PFM in the health sector.” 28 May 2020.
- Cashin, C and J Kutzin. “Making budgets work better to sustain progress towards UHC.” Joint Learning Network Blog. 8 April 2017.
- Wagstaff, A and J Kutzin. “Health and the SDGs: out of the doldrums, heading for the rapids.” World Bank Let’s Talk Development blog. 23 March 2016.
