Department of Health Economics was established in 2012, and associated with the Centre for Population, Health and Social Policy (CPHSP) at PIDE. Health Economics is a rapidly developing field with high importance worldwide. The M.Phil. in Health Economics programme is a two years (Four Semesters) academic programme, and introduces students to the ways in which economic principles and concepts can be applied to the analysis of decisions by consumers, firms and governments regarding health and healthcare. The students are trained to measure economic impacts of diseases and interventions; evaluating the cause-effect relationships between care-seeking behaviour and the specific attributes of individuals and health systems; economic efficiency of resource utilizations by governments, individuals and health institutions; guide the choices in public health interventions; assess macroeconomic nexus of disease, development, poverty and globalisation; assess health systems’ performance for policy advice.

The programme offers the students an opportunity to develop strong health economic evaluation and analytical skills to start their careers in national and international health organisations both in public and private sectors. Graduates can go on to work in government departments, research units, universities, national health services and health care organisations, and pharmaceutical industry. Last but not the least; pursue a higher academic degree (PhD) abroad.
Those who have completed 16 years of education (master and/or BS honours degree) from an HEC recognized national or international university, with a minimum of 2.5 CGPA (out of 4 in semester system) or 2nd Division (annual system) are eligible to apply for this programme.

PIDE has very experienced core and adjunct faculty members who received training from renowned national and international universities such as Stanford University, The Johns Hopkins University, The Ohio State University, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Columbia University, The New School University, and University of California in USA; the Australian National University in Australia; University of Groningen in the Netherlands; University of Bradford, University of Kent, University of Cardiff, University of Bristol, University of York and University of Warwick in UK, University of Siena in Italy; and Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, Quaid-i-Azam University, International Islamic University and Peshawar University in Pakistan.

PIDE has a very resourceful library that contains text books, journals and reports on economics and health. PIDE also provides state of the art computing facilities for students through three computer labs. PIDE students are also provided with opportunities to attend conferences, workshops and seminars at PIDE and other institutes/universities. Students are also actively involved in ongoing research projects at CPHSP PIDE.