Partnerships in Public Health Economics: Reflective Lessons from UK Obesity Research

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BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Partnerships between health economists and multi-sectoral stakeholders are essential for public health economics research. While most evidence comes from low- and middle-income countries, high-income countries also face challenges in governance, communication and translating complex analyses into policy-relevant insights. This study provides a reflective account of partnership working from a UK academic health economics team engaged in population obesity research, identifying key enablers, barriers and lessons for high-income countries contexts, with comparisons to low- and middle-income countries literature. METHODS: The MacPhee partnership model guided reflections across inputs, activities, outputs and outcomes. Semi-structured interviews with eight research staff and two PhD students captured experiences working with local government, community organisations, practitioners, funders and commercial stakeholders. Transcripts were analysed thematically, mapping initial codes to the MacPhee framework and refining themes to highlight transferable lessons. RESULTS: Effective partnerships relied on pre-existing relationships, clarity on mutual goals, adaptive communication and flexibility. Trust emerged as both an input and an outcome, requiring sustained investment. Partnerships with weak governance, particularly involving commercial stakeholders, were more likely to falter. Compared with low- and middle-income countries contexts, it was noted that the focus should shift from policymaker capacity building towards equipping health economists with relational, translational and governance skills. CONCLUSIONS: High-income countries partnerships between academic health economists and multi-sectoral stakeholders benefit from explicit attention to governance, trust and communication. These findings support integrating partnership working skills into health economics training and ensuring project design accommodates the time and resources required to build sustainable policy-relevant collaborations.

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