Who Gets What and Why? An Op-ed Makes the Case for Health Technology Assessments

Half of all medical equipment in Bangladesh’s public health facilities—hospital beds, ventilators, nebulizers, refrigerators, and vehicles—goes unused. Meanwhile, in Uganda, ultrasound machines are overused for a small number of patients, while many in need go without…Why such painful gaps and discrepancies? 

In an opinion piece for Think Global Health—an initiative from the Council on Foreign Relations—Senior Technical Director, Management Sciences for Health and Health Financing, Technologies, Data & Impact Lead, USAID MTaPS Program Dr. Héctor Castro, discusses the need for health technology assessment to set priorities and allocate precious resources.

“As we struggle to contain the current pandemic, our health-care needs will only increase. Short of a global windfall, countries must avoid waste and make do with available resources. Even a lower-income country can make impressive gains, helping its people live longer, healthier lives. Applying health technology assessment smartly to inform their own policies can make a little go a long way.”
 

Read the piece here, and watch a recording of the panel discussion USAID and MTaPS co-hosted on A Roadmap for Systematic Priority Setting and Health Technology Assessment (HTA), a guide for LMICs to successfully implement HTA and pave the road to sustainable UHC and self-reliance. Developed by MTaPS with contributions from global experts, the roadmap will help countries institutionalize their mechanisms, processes, and institutions to better use evidence and data to inform their resource allocation decisions.