Strengthening expertise for health technology assessment and priority-setting in Africa.

Background: Achieving sustainable universal health coverage depends partly on fair priority-setting processes that ensure countries spend scarce resources wisely. While general health economics capacity-strengthening initiatives exist in Africa, less attention has been paid to developing the capacity of individuals, institutions and networks to apply economic evaluation in support of health technology assessment and effective priority-setting.

Objective: On the basis of international  lessons, to identify how research organisations and partnerships could contribute to capacity strengthening for health technology assessment and priority-setting in Africa.

Strengthening rural health placements for medical students: Lessons for South Africa from international experience.

Background: This article derives lessons from international experience of innovative rural health placements for medical students. It provides pointers for strengthening South African undergraduate rural health programmes in support of the government's rural health, primary healthcare and National Health Insurance strategies.

Methods: The article draws on a review of the literature on 39 training programmes around the world, and the experiential knowledge of 28 local and international experts consulted through a structured workshop.

Regulating the for-profit private health sector: lessons from East and Southern Africa.

International evidence shows that, if poorly regulated, the private health sector may lead to distortions in the type, quantity, distribution, quality and price of health services, as well as anti-competitive behaviour. This article provides an overview of legislation governing the for-profit private health sector in East and Southern Africa. It identifies major implementation problems and suggests strategies Ministries of Health could adopt to regulate the private sector more effectively and in line with key public health objectives.