Kevin Croke
Associate Professor of Global Health
Department of Global Health and Population
Director, International Health Systems Program
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Building 1, Room 1109
677 Huntington Ave
Boston MA 02115
Bio
I am associate professor of global health in the Department of Global Health and Population at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (HSPH), and director of the International Health Systems Program. I am a faculty affiliate of the Center for International Development and the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies. Previously I was a researcher in the World Bank Development Impact Evaluation (DIME) group and a post-doctoral fellow at HSPH. My research focuses on the politics of health and health systems, and on evaluation of large-scale health programs and policies.
Recent publications
2025:
Croke K. Politics, Political Science, and the Pandemic. Health Systems and Reform . 2025;11 (1)
Arsenault C, Ravishankar S, Lewis T, Armeni P, Croke K, Doubova SV, McKee M, Tarricone R, Kruk ME. The role of health systems in shaping vaccine decisions: Insights from Italy, Mexico, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Vaccine . 2025;54 :127134
Cooper J, Kruk ME, Kapaon D, Opondo K, Nzinga J, Kosgei RJ, Croke K. Risk stratification during antenatal care failed to identify most mothers who experienced adverse pregnancy outcomes: A prospective study from Kakamega County, Kenya. Tropical Medicine and International Health . 2025;30 (6) :531-538
Quattrochi JP, Croke K, Dohou CJ, Ghib LS, Lokaya YB, Coville A, Mvukiyehe E. Effects of a community-driven water, sanitation, and hygiene intervention on diarrhea, child growth, and local institutions: a cluster-randomized controlled trial in rural Democratic Republic of Congo. PLOS Medicine. 2025
Bowles J, Croke K, Larreguy H, Liu S, Marshall J. Sustaining Exposure to Fact-checks: Misinformation Discernment, Media Consumption, and its Political Implications. American Political Science Review . 2025
2024:
Olwanda E, Opondo K, Oluoch D, Croke K, Maluni J, Jepkosgei J, Nzinga J. Women’s Autonomy and Maternal Health Decision Making in Kenya: Implications for Service Delivery Reform – A Qualitative Study. BMC Women’s Health . 2024
Croke K, Kapaon D, Opondo K, Cooper J, Nzinga J, Olwanda E, Rahim N, Kruk ME. Care seeking during pregnancy: testing the assumptions behind Service Delivery Redesign for Maternal and Newborn Health in rural Kenya. Health Policy and Planning . 2024;39 (10) :1099-1108
Croke K, Hamory J, Hsu E, Kremer M, Maertens R, Miguel E, Wiecek W. Meta-Analysis and Public Policy: Reconciling the Evidence on Deworming. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences . 2024;121 (25) :e2308733121
Croke K, Barasa E, Kruk ME. Next generation health system evaluation: options, opportunities, limits. Bulletin of the World Health Organization. 2024;102 (7) :538-540
Daniels B, Rogger D, Mohammed M, Vaarsi K, Croke K. Evaluation of Estonia’s enhanced care management program: protocol for a cluster randomized trial. International Journal of Clinical Trials. 2024;11 (1).
2023:
Croke K, Thapa GK, Aryal A, Pokhrel S, Kruk ME. The politics of health system quality: how to ignite demand. British Medical Journal. 2023;383 :e076792
Croke K, Ogbuoji O. Health reform in Nigeria: the politics of primary health care and universal health coverage. Health Policy and Planning . 2023;39 (1) :22-31.
Croke K, Moshabela M, Kapoor NR, Doubouva SV, Garcia-Elorrio E, Mariam DH, Lewis TP, Mfeka-Nkabinde GN, Mohan S, Mugo P, et al. Primary health care in practice: Usual source of care and health system performance across 14 countries. Lancet Global Health. 2023;12 (1) :e134-e144
Kruk ME, Kapoor NR, Lewis TP, Arsenault C, Boutsikari EC, Breda J, Carai S, Croke K, Dayalu R, Fink G, et al. Population confidence in the health system in 15 countries: results from the first round of People’s Voice Survey. Lancet Global Health. 2023;12 (1) :e100-e111
Lewis TP, Kapoor NR, Aryal A, Bazua-Lobato R, Carai S, Clarke-Deelder E, Croke K, Dayalu R, Espinoza-Pajuelo L, Fink G, et al. Measuring people’s views on health system performance: Design and development of the people’s voice survey. PLOS Medicine. 2023;20 (10) :e1004294.
Ongoing Projects
Evaluation of Service Delivery Reform for Maternal and Newborn Health in Kakamega County, Kenya. This project is supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Study protocol available here
The Political Origins of Primary Health Care Expansions in Developing Countries. This is a comparative, multi-country project; support for case studies in Ethiopia and Nigeria has been provided by a grant from the HSPH Dean’s Fund for Scientific Advancement.
Countering COVID-19 Misinformation Using WhatsApp. With Jeremy Bowles, Horacio Larreguy, Shelly Liu, and John Marshall. This project is funded by grants from the Harvard Data Science Initiative Trust in Science program and the Harvard Center for African Studies. Trial registration here.
Impact evaluation of Estonia’s Enhanced Care Management primary health care reform. With Daniel Rogger, Robert Lipinski, and Benjamin Daniels. Trial registration here; protocol published here.
Impact evaluation of the medium-term effects of the Health Villages and Schools WASH program in the Democratic Republic of Congo. With Aidan Coville, Eric Mvukiyehe, and John Quattrochi. Evaluation of short-run program effects can be found here and here.
Teaching
GHP 292: Research Methods for Health System Analysis
GHP 212: The Political Economy of Health in Low and Middle Income Countries
Working papers
Croke K, Daniels B, Lipinski R, Rogger D. “Motivating Improved Health Care Using Holistic Patient Contracts.” Working paper. 2024. Under review.
Croke K, Mvukiyehe E, Quattrochi J, Cottin R. “Temporary Gains, Lasting Questions: Experimental Evidence on Short- and Medium-Term Impacts of Public Works in Rural Egypt.” Revise and re-submit.