Universal Health Compassion for Universal Health Coverage Thai efforts to help Indonesia take efficient steps towards UHC Jakarta: As we fly over the clear blue Java Sea, I notice the sand from a few scattered islands sloping into the clear waters. I glance again towards my right shoulder at the travel pack I have been reading, containing Indonesia’s country progress …
Considering the inclusion of off-label medicines in Universal Health Coverage (UHC) packages
In the global scheme of medicines provision, low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) face difficulties in ensuring medicine access. Aside from the improvements still needed to healthcare infrastructure, financing, and service delivery, these countries also face issues in prioritizing their health services and ensuring the sustainability of their benefits packages. These issues are complex, but even more so when considering inclusion …
Gearing up for better decisions: Launching the guide to Health Economic Analysis and Research (GEAR) online resource
Imagine you’re a researcher in a low- and middle-income country (LMIC), and you find that you need to conduct an economic evaluation for your country. Now, where do you start? Or if you get halfway and are stuck, what do you do? These are the problems that the Guide to health Economic Analysis and Research (GEAR) resource aims to answer. It is …
Exploring Evidence for Supporting Government Investment in the Peritoneal Dialysis First Policy
Renal replacement therapy (RRT) is the only life-saving type of treatment for end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients. There are three types of RRT: kidney transplantation, haemodialysis, and peritoneal dialysis. To respond to the growing burden of non-communicable diseases including chronic kidney disease, RRT is now a national issue to consider for government investment under Universal Health Coverage. However, universal access …
The Little Blue Pill That Can Protect Your Heart?
Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension (PAH) is a life-threatening condition that makes it harder for blood to flow due to narrow or blocked arteries. As a result, the heart has to work harder to pump blood, which eventually makes it weaker and increases the risk of heart failure. Incidentally, the drug sildenafil, originally tested for heart problems on the basis of its …
No Rest for the Weary in India
This 25-27 July 2016, a Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Stakeholder Consultative Workshop was held at the India Habitat Center in New Delhi. It was jointly organized by the Department of Health and Research (DHR), the Indian Council on Medical Research (ICMR) and the International Decision Support Initiative (IDSI). This workshop was a positive step in India’s path to Universal Health …
Health and the Wealth of Evidence: A workshop on using Health technology Assessment (HTA) for priority setting in Indonesia
Thailand’s HITAP, one of iDSI’s core partners, along with the Indonesian Ministry of Health and the WHO country office in Indonesia, organised and led an HTA capacity building workshop in Jakarta, from April 25 to 29, 2016. Delegates included clinicians from four academic institutions in Indonesia (University of Gadjah Mada, University of Airlangga, University of Hassanuddin, and the University of Indonesia), …
The 5th HTAsiaLink Conference
The 5th annual HTAsiaLink Conference officially concludes after a four-day intensive gathering of HTA practitioners and experts in Singapore. The conference was jointly organized by the Ministry of Health, Singapore, the Health Services Research Department of the Eastern Health Alliance and the Health Services Research Institute of SingHealth and took place at Duke-NUS Graduate School between the 3rd to the …
What could India’s HTA mechanism for its healthcare system look like?
With HTA gaining ground as a tool for priority-setting globally, it comes as no surprise that countries are trying to find ways to adapt HTA to their particular healthcare system and context. Such was the case the HITAP team found when we went to India for a national level economic evaluation for healthcare workshop and symposium from November 30th to …
Combination of Policy Process and Technical Evidence: Setting Priority on Health Screening in Thailand
More and more, private health care is promoting health checkups. The more tests the consumer takes the higher the costs are incurred. Nevertheless, expensive tests cannot guarantee better health outcomes. Evidence even suggests that some tests such as prosthetic-specific antigen tests have definite harms that outweigh the benefits due to over diagnosis and over treatment. Meanwhile, some countries allocate …