Mission Report: FORMALIZING PROCESS: HTA INTRODUCTORY AND TOPIC NOMINATION WORKSHOP

The Indonesian HTA Committee (InaHTAC) was formally renewed and continues its work as a facilitator of national HTA studies as of 2016. Under their oversight, three HTA economic evaluation studies were completed from 2014-2016: the economic evaluation of sildenafil as a first line treatment for pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH); the economic evaluation of the package of essential non-communicable disease interventions (PEN); and, the economic evaluation of the renal replacement therapy options for Indonesia.
To build up the supply in the country and assist them in conducting these research, HITAP has supported the InaHTAC through capacity building activities and has tried to expand this to other organizations as well such as the BPJS (Badan Penyelanggara Jaminan Sosial or the Agency for the Organization of Social Insurance) Kesehatan. This time, the team provided training to the National Institute of Health and Research Development (NIHRD) during their week-long workshop on health.
HITAP also aimed to help build the HTA process through sharing the Thai experiences in a topic selection workshop with the hopes of helping develop an effective mechanism to determine policy relevant research topics for HTA in Indonesia. The team is also supporting two studies on off-label medicines in an effort to help Indonesian policymakers make the decision on the results of the economic evaluation of sildenafil as a first-line treatment for PAH (given that this is an off-label use of the medication). The two teams conducting the study met with HITAP and PATH, which is also supporting the effort, to discuss the proposal for their study and sign the contract.
Finally, HITAP met with several partners, such as the InaHTAC and PATH to discuss next steps on current activities and collaborations.