Recognizing the benefits of economic evaluations as a tool to inform public health policy, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) in collaboration with the Tufts Medical Center has endeavored to aid in creating the tools, mechanisms, and frameworks to facilitate the generation of research, assessments, and evaluations globally. While the concept of HTA has long since been used in High-Income Countries (HICs), it is still relatively new to Low and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs). Although the use of economic evaluations in HICs is more prevalent, it can also be expected to make a bigger impact in LMICs given the need for priority setting within the context of resource limitations and other challenges that are inherent in developing countries. In an effort to aid researchers and economists, several databases, such as the at the University of York’s Centre for Reviews and Dissemination (CRD) and Tufts Medical Center’s Center for the Evaluation of Value and Risk in Health (CEVR) Cost-Effectiveness Analysis (CEA) Registry have been established. While both are useful in research, they either lack the ability to synthesize results from multiple studies or the use of Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALY) as a health metric. The DALY metric is more commonly used in LMICs, primarily due to the preference of International Development Organizations, such as WHO and BMGF that fund research in LMICs. Knowing the importance of a cost-per-DALY database for LMICs, the BMGF has funded Tufts Medical Center’s CEVR to develop a cost-per-DALY Registry.

The HIU was commissioned by the BMGF and Tufts Medical Center to aid in Assessing Decision Maker Needs and the Transferability of Information across Countries and Regions. The project would be beneficial in determining how useful cost-per-DALY information is to health policy decision-makers. The HIU was to conduct interviews to assess the importance of economic evaluation and cost-per-DALY for decision-makers and evidence developers in Bangladesh, India, and Vietnam. This information will be used as input for the development of a cost-per-DALY database, which is to be developed by Tufts CEVR. The database has a huge potential to aid LMICs in conducting HTA.