The Health Technology Assessment (HTA), which is a crucial tool for setting health intervention priorities, has been rapidly developing in Asia-Pacific, but is still not fully employed by many countries in policy decision making. Although HTA institutions and networks have been operating successfully in OECD countries and a few of the middle-income countries (MICs) in Asia-Pacific, many of the low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) in the region have HTA systems that are not totally developed.

Notwithstanding the commitment made by many LMICs to increase health investments to offer universal access of essential health services, only a few LMICs have established HTA systems so far. Information on the institutional experiences and conducive factors involved in developing HTA systems globally, and particularly in the Asia-Pacific region is not readily available for countries interested to learn about, and build upon, the successful HTA systems of the Asia-Pacific region.

The APO in collaboration with the Health Intervention and Technology Assessment Program (HITAP), Thailand, is undertaking a policy brief to understand the policies that encourage the development and sustainability of HTA systems. The process will involve review of published and grey literature on the theme, collection of qualitative data from HTAsiaLink (a regional network of not-for-profit HTA agencies to foster research collaborations between countries and build capacity of individuals and organizations) member countries, surveys, and interviews with relevant people. It will bring together practitioners from HTA organizations in Asia-Pacific, including China, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand.

The policy brief will describe the historical development of HTA systems, identifying supportive policies and operational practices that were conducive to the introduction and maturation of HTA in these settings. It will discuss the relevance of the country experiences with developed HTA systems for LMICs where HTA systems are still in an early stage of development and provide practical recommendations on how to effectively develop HTA systems in LMICs.

The policy brief will be produced in association with, and disseminated at, the Prince Mahidol Award Conference in January 2016. Prior to that, the draft policy brief and working paper will be vetted in side-meetings of major conferences and events attended by decision makers to verify and validate the policy recommendations.

Project’s Output