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Sara CausevicPostdoctor

About me

I am a Postdoctoral fellow at the Department of Public Health Sciences.  In addition, I am a Commissioner with the Lancet Commission on Peaceful Societies through Health and gender equality.

I am a health policy and systems researcher with published academic work and analysis in the field. Furthermore, I am involved in policy and advocacy efforts related to parallel crises (climate change, pandemic, and conflict) and their effect on health.

As a Fulbright Scholar, I attended the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in the United States before completing my PhD studies in medical science at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden (thesis available for download here) and my master's degree in global health policy at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in the United Kingdom.

I gained extensive experience in the field of global health policy by working with various organizations, including serving the United Nations for almost five years, focusing on sexual and reproductive health and rights, sexual violence, emergency preparedness, and disaster response; the Swedish Institute for Global Health Transformation (SIGHT) with the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, working as a consultant for Sida, and with the European Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (ECDC).
Furthermore, I actively engaged in addressing the national health system needs and health policies while working for the private sector for Kry/Livi, Novartis, Sanofi, and Werlabs.

Lastly, I am the co-founder of Women in Global Health Sweden, a platform for the promotion of transformative leadership in health that is gender-responsive, advocating for gender equality in workplaces, including in academia and research, and for inclusion and diversity of women in the health sector.

Education

- PhD in Medical Sciences, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden, 2023

- MSc in Global Health Policy, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK, 2019

- Fulbright Scholar (MPH programme), Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA 2011-2012.

- MA in Chemical Engineering, University of Sarajevo, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2011

- BSc in Chemical Engineering, University of Sarajevo, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2006

Teaching

I lecture in the following programs/courses: 

  • Master's Programme in Global Health, Health policy, management and economics, Karolinska Institutet
  • Master's Programme in Public Health Sciences, Global health in a changing world, Stockholm University
  • Bachelor program, Migration, integration and health, Stockholm University

Areas of expertise include:

  • Health policy and management
  • Global health policy
  • Migration and health
  • Sexual and reproductive health and rights

Research

I currently work as a postdoctoral fellow and investigate health inequalities in individuals with immigrant backgrounds. I have a special interest in policy creation and policy implementation, including the effects on health inequalities. In addition, within the field of health policy and systems research, I conduct quantitative research, as well as reviews.

 

Publications

A selection from Stockholm University publication database

  • Prevalence and associated factors for poor mental health among young migrants in Sweden: a cross-sectional study

    2024. Sara Causevic (et al.). Global Health Action 17 (1)

    Article

    BACKGROUND Young migrants face multiple challenges that can affect their mental, sexual and reproductive health.OBJECTIVE To assess the prevalence of self-reported poor mental health and its associated demographic, post-migration and sexual risk behaviour factors among young migrants (aged 15–25) in Sweden.

    METHODS Data were drawn from a cross-sectional survey conducted with migrants aged 15–65 years old in Sweden between December 2018 and November 2019 (n = 6449). Among these, 990 participants aged 15–25 were eligible for the study. Mental health was measured using the Refugee Health Screener-13. Missing data indicator analysis and multivariable logistic regression models were conducted to estimate the association between mental health, sexual risk behaviour, demographic and migration-related variables.

    RESULTS Of the 990 participants, 59% reported poor mental health. Participants reporting poor mental health were more likely to be female (AOR:1.63, 95% CI:1.18–2.25), to have lived in Sweden more than three years (AOR:2.16, 95% CI:1.17–3.97), to engage in any sexual risk behaviour (AOR:1.99, 95% CI:1.25–3.17), and to live alone (AOR:1.95, 95% CI:1.25–3.03) or with friends they already knew (AOR:1.60, 95% CI:1.37–4.91). People arriving from the Americas (AOR:0.54, 95% CI:0.33–0.88), Asia (AOR:0.44, 95% CI:0.22–0.86), Europe (AOR:0.30, 95% CI:0.14–0.61) and Africa (AOR 0.37, 95% CI: 0.23–0.60) had lower odds of poor mental health than those arriving from Syria.

    CONCLUSION The prevalence of poor mental health among young migrants in Sweden was high, with specific subgroups (women, asylum seekers, people arriving from Syria, and those residing longer in Sweden) being particularly vulnerable. Our results indicate the interconnectedness between poor mental health and sexual risk behaviour in this population. Thus, policies targeting young migrants should ensure that healthcare services screen for both poor sexual and mental health at the same time.

    Read more about Prevalence and associated factors for poor mental health among young migrants in Sweden

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