Hospital Preventable Mortality – measurement and response.

Career overview

Professor Semira Manaseki-Holland trained as a public health physician in England, holding joint qualifications in paediatrics, with a research leadership focus on health systems and maternal-child health. Over a 25-year period, she has concentrated on research and service development in low and middle-income countries (LMICs). After working in the NHS for 9 years, she intensified her global health research and health systems policy and planning, including two years in Mongolia and six years in Afghanistan. Professor Manaseki-Holland has collaborated extensively with WHO, UN agencies, Ministries of Health, and NGOs across various settings and health programmes. Her pioneering international work includes conducting the first randomised control trials in Mongolia and Afghanistan. As CEO for Central Asia for Aga Khan Health Services (AKHS) from 2005 to 2009, she managed the delivery of integrated primary and secondary healthcare services in three provinces of Afghanistan and supported national healthcare delivery and reform systems in Tajikistan. She also oversaw the operations of three midwifery training colleges and academic research in Afghanistan and cross-border healthcare systems between Afghanistan and Tajikistan. At the University of Birmingham, she founded the Master’s in Public Health International (now MPH Global Health) in 2012 and directed it until 2019. Her research encompasses global health in maternal-child health, health systems, and complex community interventions, often within a randomised controlled trial design context. Additionally, she investigates mortality case note reviews in hospitals in the UK. Professor Manaseki-Holland serves as the Health Lead for the Institute of Global Innovation (IGI) challenge themes, focusing on ''Water Challenges in a Challenging World'' and ''Clean Air''. She teaches at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels, supervising several PhD students based in the UK, Africa, and India. Professor Manaseki-Holland graduated from the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne Medical School with a BMedSci, MBBS, and MPH. She has clinical experience in General Medicine and Paediatrics, holding memberships in the Royal Colleges of Physicians, Paediatrics and Child Health, and Faculty of Public Health, where she is now a Fellow. She worked as an NHS Public Health/Child Health Consultant in Birmingham Health Authority and as a Technical Officer at WHO HQ in Geneva before undertaking a Wellcome Trust Research Fellowship at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) for her PhD from 2002 to 2005. During her time at LSHTM, she conducted the first-ever randomised controlled trial in Mongolia, following a birth cohort of 1300 children for 3.5 years. After moving to Afghanistan, she worked with various international agencies, including UNICEF and WHO, and directed health system development and service delivery in deprived provinces. Upon returning to the UK in 2010, she joined the University of Birmingham, focusing on quality improvement projects and health systems studies in LMICs. Her current research spans multiple countries, addressing topics such as childhood vitamin D deficiency, maternity services quality, and preventable hospital mortality. She also directs a highly rated MPH Global Health programme and teaches across various medical and public health courses.

Research interests

Professor Semira Manaseki-Holland''s research focuses on public health, particularly in low and middle-income countries (LMICs). Her areas of interest include maternal and child health, health systems, and complex community interventions, often employing randomised controlled trial designs. She has conducted pioneering work in Mongolia and Afghanistan, including the first randomised controlled trials in these regions. Her research topics encompass childhood vitamin D deficiency, weaning food hygiene interventions, adolescent health services, perineal trauma prevention and management, quality of maternity services, continuity and integration of care, clinical handover in non-communicable diseases (NCDs), patient-held records, and health systems development in LMICs. Additionally, she is involved in quality improvement research in the UK, focusing on preventable mortality and the role of case note reviews in hospitals. Professor Manaseki-Holland also leads various active research projects, including studies on clinical handover, the MaaCiwara project in Mali, and initiatives related to water and air quality challenges.