Strengthening HTA agencies in Asia: Learning and sharing experiences for the APO Policy Brief Meeting

By Alia Luz, Health Intervention and Technology Assessment Program (HITAP)

With the introduction of the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) in Asian countries, priority-setting and HTA has become increasingly important.  However, only in the past decade has HTA been used to inform countries’ health programs and policies. As such, HTA agencies are relatively new in Asia.  In 2007, the Health Intervention and Technology Assessment Program (HITAP) was established in Thailand. Consecutively in 2008, a HTA division was established in Taiwan’s Center for Drug Evaluation (CDE) and the National Evidence-based healthcare Collaborating Agency (NECA) was founded in Korea.

Why do (and should) we do economic evaluation?

Every healthcare system in the world has to set priorities and make choices. Economic evaluation, in the context of health technology assessment, provides the decision makers with a framework for assessing the costs and benefits of various competing options, to inform fair and efficient use of limited healthcare resources. Prof Tony Culyer explains in this presentation: Why do we do economic evaluation?

Prof Culyer is the Chair of the iDSI Steering Group; Chair in Economics at University of York; Ontario Research Chair in Health Policy and System Design at University of Toronto; and founding Vice Chair of NICE.

The Power of HTA: an animation

In health systems, although there are many stakeholders with different interests (healthcare practitioners, policymakers, industry, patients and the public), many share the value of better health for all. However, when a decision needs to be made, it is not easy for them to agree or talk together constructively. Will there be any way to help them talk together constructively and to make the best use of the limited healthcare resources? See this short animation produced by HITAP.

Finding the true north of evidence-based policy development

By: Yot Teerawattananon and Nattha Tritasavit

Finding true north is important for accurate navigation to embarking on the right path. While there may be many paths to making policy decisions, the ultimate goal is to end up with a decision that has been well-informed by evidence. Evidenced-based policy decisions result in more transparent and effective outcomes that are defendable to the public. A case in point is the expansion of antiretroviral treatment (ART) for HIV/AIDS in Thailand.