Wolfgang Munar

Associate Professor; and Director, Gill-Lebovic Center for the Caribbean and Latin America

Full-time Faculty

School: Milken Institute School of Public Health

Department: Global Health

Contact:

Email: Wolfgang Munar

Office Phone: 202-994-1015

950 New Hampshire Avenue, Office: 407 Washington DC 20052

Wolfgang Munar is the Director of the Gill-Lebovic Center for the Caribbean and Latin America and an Associate Professor in Global Health Systems at the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health. He serves as Co-Director of the Global Health Policy and Systems MPH Program. A graduate of Harvard University's MS in Health Policy and Management ('89) and Universidad del Norte's (Medicine), Dr. Munar has been engaged in global health practice and research in Latin America & the Caribbean, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Central & South Asia. Currently, he maintains an active global health research program in El Salvador, Honduras, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, Niger, and Pakistan.

He began his career as a health system reformer in his native country, Colombia, where he served as a State Secretary of Health and Vice-Minister of Health. He has occupied senior positions in global health and multilateral finance and philanthropic organizations such as the Inter-American Development Bank, the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Since 2009, Dr. Munar has served on several advisory committees on multilateral and philanthropic organizations involved in global health including the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, TB, and Malaria and the Carlos Slim Foundation, among others.

Expertise

Global Health

Health Policy

Maternal and Child Health

Program Evaluation

Health Services Delivery

Education

Sc. M. 1989, Harvard University, School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts Health Policy & Management
M. D. 1983, Universidad del Norte, School of Medicine, Barranquilla, Colombia- Medicine

Teaching

PUBH 6441 Global Health Organizations and Regulations
PUBH 6475 Theory-building in health systems research

Research

Dr. Munar’s research utilizes theory-driven approaches to evaluate health systems' transformations. His research aims at characterizing how health system outcomes are produced and why (or why not). His research is focused on evaluating performance management reforms in primary healthcare systems, the scale-up and institutionalization of health policy innovations, and mixed-methods case study research. His research has generated insights about the influence of implementation strategies and contextual conditions for explaining system and program outcomes.

Since joining GWSPH, he has developed a research portfolio in various countries around the world including Bangladesh, El Salvador, Honduras, India, Kenya, and Tanzania. His most recent research grants as Principal Investigator include two theory-driven evaluations:
(1) Learning from the Routine Immunization Strengthening Programs in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Niger, Somalia, and Pakistan, and
(2) Learning from Performance Measurement and Management Strategies in El Salvador and Honduras.

Publications

Aranda, L. E., Arif, Z., Innocenti, C., …Munar, W. (2023). Characterizing the implementation of performance management interventions in a primary health care system. A case study of the Salud Mesoamerica Initiative in El Salvador. Health Policy and Planning, czad020
Lahiri, S., Bingenheimer, J., Sedlander, E., Munar, W., & Rimal, R. (2023). The role of social norms on adolescent family planning in rural Kilifi County, Kenya. Plos One, 18(2), e0275824.
Munar, W., et al. (2022). "Characterising performance information use in the primary health care systems of El Salvador, Lebanon, and Malawi: Multiple case study protocol." BMJ Open 12(e060503).
Newton-Lewis, T., Munar, W., & Chanturidze, T. (2021). Performance management in complex adaptive systems: a conceptual framework for health systems. BMJ Global Health, 6(7), e005582.
Lungeanu, A., McKnight, M., Negron, R., Munar, W., Christakis, N. A., & Contractor, N. S. (2022). Reprint of: Using Trellis software to enhance high-quality large-scale network data collection in the field. Social Networks.
Sedlander, E., Bingenheimer, J. B., Lahiri, S., Thiongo, M., Gichangi, P., Munar, W., & Rimal, R. N. (2021). Does the belief that contraceptive use causes infertility actually affect use? Findings from a social network study in Kenya. Studies in family planning, 52(3), 343-359.
Wahid, S. S., Munar, W., Das, S., Gupta, M., & Darmstadt, G. L. (2021). Reprint of ‘Our village is dependent on us. That’s why we can’t leave our work’. Characterizing mechanisms of motivation to perform among Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA) in Bihar. Health Policy and Planning.
Munar, W., Snilstveit, B., Aranda, L. E., Biswas, N., Baffour, T., & Stevenson, J. (2021, December 15). Medición y gestión del desempeño en los sistemas de salud de atención primaria en países de ingresos bajos y medios. London: International Initiative for Impact Evaluation.
Lungeanu, A., McKnight, M., Negron, R., Munar, W., Christakis, N. A., & Contractor, N. S. (2021). Using Trellis software to enhance high-quality large-scale network data collection in the field. Social Networks, 66, 171-184.
Peiris, D., et al. (2021) Strengthening primary health care in the COVID-19 era: a review of best practices to inform health system responses in low- and middle-income countries. WHO South-East Asia Journal of Public Health, 10, 6-25.
Darmstadt, G. L., et al. (2020). Impact of the Ananya program on reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health and nutrition in Bihar, India: early results from a quasi-experimental study. Journal of Global Health, 10(2).
Darmstadt, G. L., Pepper, K. T., Ward, V. C., Srikantiah, S., Mahapatra, T., Tarigopula, U. K., ... & Shah, H. (2020). Improving primary health care delivery in Bihar, India: Learning from piloting and statewide scale-up of Ananya. (3Ie 2018), 10(2).
Wahid, S. S., Munar, W., Das, S., Gupta, M., & Darmstadt, G. L. (2020). ‘Our village is dependent on us. That’s why we can’t leave our work’. Characterizing mechanisms of motivation to perform among Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA) in Bihar. Health Policy and Planning, 35(1), 58-66.
Munar, W., Snilstveit, B., Aranda, L. E., et al. (2019) Evidence gap map of performance measurement and management in primary healthcare systems in low-income and middle-income countries. BMJ Global Health, 4, e001451.
Carmichael, S. L., Mehta, K., Raheel, H. (2019). Effects of team-based goals and non-monetary incentives on front-line health worker performance and maternal health behaviors: a cluster randomized controlled trial in Bihar, India. BMJ Global Health, 4, e001146.
Sedlander, E., Bingenheimer, J. B., Thiongo, M., Gichangi, P., Rimal, R. N., Edberg, M., & Munar, W. (2018). “They Destroy the Reproductive System”: Exploring the Belief that Modern Contraceptive Use Causes Infertility. Studies in family planning, 49(4), 345-365.
Munar, W. et al. (2018). "Evidence gap map of performance measurement and management in primary care delivery systems in low-and middle-income countries–Study protocol." Gates Open Research 2.
Munar, W., Wahid, S. S., & Curry, L. (2018). Characterizing performance improvement in primary care systems in Mesoamerica: A realist evaluation protocol. Gates Open Research, 2.
Sedlander, E., Rimal, R. N., Talegawkar, S. A., Yilma, H., & Munar, W. (2018). Designing a socio-normative intervention to reduce anemia in Odisha India: A formative research protocol. Gates Open Research, 2.
Edberg, M., Sedlander, E., Rimal, R., Bingenheimer, J., Shaikh, H., Munar, W., ... & Morankar, S. (2018). Planned social network change and modern contraceptive use in a rural Ethiopian community. Journal of Global Health Reports, 2.
Munar, W., Hovmand, P., & Darmstadt, G. L. (2015). Scaling-Up Impact in Perinatology through Systems Science – Bridging the Collaboration and Translational Divides in Cross-disciplinary Research and Public Policy. Seminars in Perinatology, 39, 416-423.
Darmstadt, G. L., Munar, W., & Henry, S. (2014). Newborn Health: Everybody’s Business. Global Public Health, 9(7), 752-759.
Darmstadt, G. L., & Munar, W. (2013). Behavior change and community participation: Assessing causal pathways affecting neonatal mortality. JAMA, 310(9), 969-970.