Good Practices for Health Technology Assessment Guideline Development: A Report of the Health Technology Assessment International, HTAsiaLink, and ISPOR Special Task Force.

Objectives: Health technology assessment (HTA) guidelines are intended to support successful implementation of HTA by enhancing consistency and transparency in concepts, methods, process, and use, thereby enhancing the legitimacy of the decision-making process. This report lays out good practices and practical recommendations for developing or updating HTA guidelines to ensure successful implementation.

Methods: The task force was established in 2022 and comprised experts and academics from various geographical regions, each with substantial experience in developing HTA guidelines for national health policymaking.

Good Practices for Health Technology Assessment Guideline Development: A Report of the Health Technology Assessment International, HTAsiaLink, and ISPOR Special Task Force.

Objectives: Health technology assessment (HTA) guidelines are intended to support the successful implementation of HTA by enhancing consistency and transparency in concepts, methods, processes, and use, thereby enhancing the legitimacy of the decision-making process. This report lays out good practices and practical recommendations for developing or updating HTA guidelines to ensure successful implementation.

Methods: The task force was established in 2022 and comprised experts and academics from various geographical regions, each with substantial experience in developing HTA guidelines for national health policy making.

The development of a roadmap for Health Technology Assessment implementation in Moldova.

Background: Moldova strives for universal health coverage (UHC) and considers health technology assessment (HTA) an important policy instrument to inform the choice of services that should be covered to progressively realize UHC. It plays a key role in determining which technologies are coved, considering various dimensions often including cost-effectiveness, budget impact, and feasibility. This paper reports on work undertaken to develop a roadmap for HTA implementation, using evidence-informed deliberative processes (EDPs) as the guiding framework.

The Use of Evidence-Informed Deliberative Processes for Designing the Essential Package of Health Services in Pakistan.

Background: The Disease Control Priorities 3 (DCP3) project provides long-term support to Pakistan in the development and implementation of its universal health coverage essential package of health services (UHC-EPHS). This paper reports on the priority setting process used in the design of the EPHS during the period 2019-2020, employing the framework of evidence-informed deliberative processes (EDPs), a tool for priority setting with the explicit aim of optimising the legitimacy of decision-making in the development of health benefit packages.

Methods: We planned the six steps of the framework during two workshops in the Netherlands with participants from all DCP3 Pakistan partners (October 2019 and February 2020), who implemented these at the country level in Pakistan in 2019 and 2020.

The use of cost-effectiveness analysis for health benefit package design - should countries follow a sectoral, incremental or hybrid approach?

Background: Countries around the world are increasingly rethinking the design of their health benefit package to achieve universal health coverage. Countries can periodically revise their packages on the basis of sectoral cost-effectiveness analyses, i.e.

The Use of Evidence-Informed Deliberative Processes for Health Benefit Package Design in Kazakhstan.

Unlabelled: Kazakhstan strives to obtain Universal Health Coverage (UHC) by using health technology assessment (HTA) for determining their health benefit package. This paper reports on employing evidence-informed deliberative processes (EDPs), a practical and stepwise approach to enhance legitimate health benefit package design in Kazakhstan.

Methods: The Ministry of Health of Kazakhstan approved the operationalization and application of EDPs during March 2019 and December 2020.

The potential health and revenue effects of a tax on sugar sweetened beverages in Zambia.

The global burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) has been rising. A key risk factor for NCDs is obesity, which has been partly linked to consumption of sugar sweetened beverages (SSBs). A tax on SSBs is an attractive control measure to curb the rising trend in NCDs, as it has the potential to reduce consumption of SSBs.

Contradictions within the SDGs: are sin taxes for health improvement at odds with employment and economic growth in Zambia.

Background: A recurring discussion in the literature relates to the possible contradictions among the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The focus has been on economic goals, such as economic growth and goals related to climate change. We explore the possible contradictions that may arise between economic goals and health goals, specifically, the goal on Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) - SDG3.

Introducing health technology assessment in Tanzania.

Objectives: Health technology assessment (HTA) is a cost-effective resource allocation tool in healthcare decision-making processes; however, its use is limited in low-income settings where countries fall short on both absorptive and technical capacity. This paper describes the journey of the introduction of HTA into decision-making processes through a case study revising the National Essential Medicines List (NEMLIT) in Tanzania. It draws lessons on establishing and strengthening transparent priority-setting processes, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa.