Paula Armstrong is a Senior Director at FTI Consulting and is based in Cape Town, South Africa. She is in the Economics and Financial Consulting segment. Her work focuses on South Africa’s policy and regulatory framework, with special interest in healthcare.

She is a skilled communicator and engages with the media on matters relating to healthcare policy. She has also been involved in assisting clients with competition and policy issues in the healthcare sector. She spear-heads FTI’s economic research and consulting on issues relating to COVID-19 and its impact on heath systems and the economy. She has presented to various regulatory and government bodies, including the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Health, and Nedlac. She also works in areas of regulatory economics, with a strong focus on energy and FMCG.

Select examples of recent work:

• Advised various stakeholders on healthy policy pertaining to the NHI in South Africa (2015 – present)
• Economic research lead on COVID-19 in the South African economy (2020 and 2021);
• Health policy advisor to the Health Funders Association (2019 – 2023);
• Macroeconomic assessment of National Health Insurance on the private hospital sector in South Africa, presented at the BUSA Economic Indaba (2019);
• Advised the merging parties in the merger between Mediclinic and Matlosana Medical Health Services (2015 – 2019);
• Advised the merging parties in the merger between Mediclinic and Intercare (2018);
• Advised the merging parties in the merger between ACT Healthcare Assets and Activo Health (2018);
• Advised Coca-Cola on health aspects of the Health Promotions Levy (HPL) (2017);

Recent example of other initiatives:

• 2015: The impact of teacher characteristics on student performance: An analysis using hierarchical linear modelling. Journal of Early Childhood Education. 5(2).
• 2016: Research note on the health impact of a sugar tax (with Elize Rich and Helanya Fourie): The impact of a sugar tax on SSBs on the prevalence of obesity.
• 2017: Research note on the distributional impact of a sugar tax: Will the new sugar tax affect the poor disproportionately?
• 2017: Research note on the distribution of healthcare need, benefit and financing in South Africa (with Marine Erasmus and Elize Rich): Benefit incidence, financing incidence and need for healthcare services in South Africa.
• 2020: Various research and explanatory notes on the impact of Covid-19 on the South African economy. Positions prior to FTI Consulting:
• 2014-2018: Economist and Senior Economist with Econex (merged with FTI Consulting in 2019)
• 2010 – 2014: Researcher and PhD student in the Research on Socioeconomic Policy group (ReSEP) in the Department of Economics at the University of Stellenbosch.
• 2012 – 2014: Research Consultant to the Department of Basic Education.