HTAi Review | April 26, 2024

A Look Back

HTAi attends HTA2024.kz

On April 19 and 20, representatives from HTAi gathered in Astana, Kazakhstan to support HTA2024.kz, the Regional Conference of the International Community of Specialists in Health Technology Assessment.

The conference aimed to promote collaboration in HTA in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, and explored the theme “HTA as a Tool to Determine Priorities for Healthcare Development and Funding”.

On April 20, representatives from HTA bodies, key policy makers, and other stakeholders convened for a Policy Dialogue organized by HTAi and hosted by #KazSPOR. The Dialogue was a continuation of discussions started at the HTAi Regional Meeting in Baku, in October 2022, regarding key issues and opportunities for advancing HTA in the region. These Policy Dialogues are the first steps in a process that will be co-created with participants to result in further actions around HTA in the Eastern Europe and Central Asia region.

Key takeaways from the conference:

• Attendance was good
• The event received the support from the Ministry of Health of Kazakhstan and the WHO Country Office in  Kazakhstan. Speakers from both entities opened the event and highlighted how much trust is allocated in HTA as a powerful tool to support decision-making processes in healthcare.
• HTAi supported the event in terms of agenda and speakers’ identification. A total of 10 HTAi representatives committed to this event and delivered high-level speeches to highlight the role of HTA in relation to a wide set of topics, from unmet needs to innovation management, from patient involvement to regulatory framework, from capacity building to real-world evidence, from hospital-based context to digital health solutions.
• Experiences from Kazakhstan and other countries from the Region, like Azerbaijan and Kyrgyzstan, were presented by local speakers.
• The event closed with a series of take-home messages: local contexts are in continuous transitions, but this should not stop countries to share experiences, successes, and also failures. Lack of capacity is a big issue, not specific for the Region but probably most critical in some contexts. A sound legal framework is key to imagine a future for HTA and collaborative efforts could serve to generate successful stories to promote further the institutionalization of HTA.

Key takeaways from the Policy Dialogue:

• The session was successful with active participation of representatives from many countries from the Region: Greece, Hungary, North Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro, Slovenia, Poland, Türkiye, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Azerbaijan.
• WHO Regional Office for Europe (WHO/Europe) provided an overview about the activities of support they are giving to some countries. It was reported that challenges encountered by WHO officers were related to political instability and the lack of proper interconnections within different bodies, regardless of political will to implement HTA approaches. Another critical element is capacity, sometimes lacking and, when available, hard to retain. Data collection and access was also mentioned as a criticality in some contexts. However, countries can benefit of WHO support which, in partnership with HTAi, has an extensive capability to reach out to international experts to provide assistance.
• A roundtable discussion among in-person and virtual participants highlighted three main core elements for the evolution of HTA in the EECA Region: i) political will, the driver of any development in the field. ii) legal framework, essential to define rules and roles. iii) resources and capacity, essential to have a functional HTA ecosystem.
• Participants were invited to reflect about how HTAi can help. It was remarked that it can have the ability to catalyze collaboration among different countries in the region or connect the region with other regions where similar problems have been addressed. Also, it was mentioned that Interest Groups (IGs) could target specific issues in a quite effective fashion (eg. ECN and DCIG in relation to capacity building, PCIG to increase political will).

A more detailed report is planned for release at a later date.