Cargando…

Assessing the potential of HTA to inform resource allocation decisions in low-income settings: The case of Malawi

Health technology assessment (HTA) offers a set of analytical tools to support health systems' decisions about resource allocation. Although there is increasing interest in these tools across the world, including in some middle-income countries, they remain rarely used in low-income countries (...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Ramponi, Francesco, Twea, Pakwanja, Chilima, Benson, Nkhoma, Dominic, Kazanga Chiumia, Isabel, Manthalu, Gerald, Mfutso-Bengo, Joseph, Revill, Paul, Drummond, Michael, Sculpher, Mark
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9650047/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36388387
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2022.1010702
_version_ 1784827924944257024
author Ramponi, Francesco
Twea, Pakwanja
Chilima, Benson
Nkhoma, Dominic
Kazanga Chiumia, Isabel
Manthalu, Gerald
Mfutso-Bengo, Joseph
Revill, Paul
Drummond, Michael
Sculpher, Mark
author_facet Ramponi, Francesco
Twea, Pakwanja
Chilima, Benson
Nkhoma, Dominic
Kazanga Chiumia, Isabel
Manthalu, Gerald
Mfutso-Bengo, Joseph
Revill, Paul
Drummond, Michael
Sculpher, Mark
author_sort Ramponi, Francesco
collection PubMed
description Health technology assessment (HTA) offers a set of analytical tools to support health systems' decisions about resource allocation. Although there is increasing interest in these tools across the world, including in some middle-income countries, they remain rarely used in low-income countries (LICs). In general, the focus of HTA is narrow, mostly limited to assessments of efficacy and cost-effectiveness. However, the principles of HTA can be used to support a broader series of decisions regarding new health technologies. We examine the potential for this broad use of HTA in LICs, with a focus on Malawi. We develop a framework to classify the main decisions on health technologies within health systems. The framework covers decisions on identifying and prioritizing technologies for detailed assessment, deciding whether to adopt an intervention, assessing alternative investments for implementation and scale-up, and undertaking further research activities. We consider the relevance of the framework to policymakers in Malawi and we use two health technologies as examples to investigate the main barriers and enablers to the use of HTA methods. Although the scarcity of local data, expertise, and other resources could risk limiting the operationalisation of HTA in LICs, we argue that even in highly resource constrained health systems, such as in Malawi, the use of HTA to support a broad range of decisions is feasible and desirable.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-9650047
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2022
publisher Frontiers Media S.A.
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-96500472022-11-15 Assessing the potential of HTA to inform resource allocation decisions in low-income settings: The case of Malawi Ramponi, Francesco Twea, Pakwanja Chilima, Benson Nkhoma, Dominic Kazanga Chiumia, Isabel Manthalu, Gerald Mfutso-Bengo, Joseph Revill, Paul Drummond, Michael Sculpher, Mark Front Public Health Public Health Health technology assessment (HTA) offers a set of analytical tools to support health systems' decisions about resource allocation. Although there is increasing interest in these tools across the world, including in some middle-income countries, they remain rarely used in low-income countries (LICs). In general, the focus of HTA is narrow, mostly limited to assessments of efficacy and cost-effectiveness. However, the principles of HTA can be used to support a broader series of decisions regarding new health technologies. We examine the potential for this broad use of HTA in LICs, with a focus on Malawi. We develop a framework to classify the main decisions on health technologies within health systems. The framework covers decisions on identifying and prioritizing technologies for detailed assessment, deciding whether to adopt an intervention, assessing alternative investments for implementation and scale-up, and undertaking further research activities. We consider the relevance of the framework to policymakers in Malawi and we use two health technologies as examples to investigate the main barriers and enablers to the use of HTA methods. Although the scarcity of local data, expertise, and other resources could risk limiting the operationalisation of HTA in LICs, we argue that even in highly resource constrained health systems, such as in Malawi, the use of HTA to support a broad range of decisions is feasible and desirable. Frontiers Media S.A. 2022-10-28 /pmc/articles/PMC9650047/ /pubmed/36388387 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2022.1010702 Text en Copyright © 2022 Ramponi, Twea, Chilima, Nkhoma, Kazanga Chiumia, Manthalu, Mfutso-Bengo, Revill, Drummond and Sculpher. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Public Health
Ramponi, Francesco
Twea, Pakwanja
Chilima, Benson
Nkhoma, Dominic
Kazanga Chiumia, Isabel
Manthalu, Gerald
Mfutso-Bengo, Joseph
Revill, Paul
Drummond, Michael
Sculpher, Mark
Assessing the potential of HTA to inform resource allocation decisions in low-income settings: The case of Malawi
title Assessing the potential of HTA to inform resource allocation decisions in low-income settings: The case of Malawi
title_full Assessing the potential of HTA to inform resource allocation decisions in low-income settings: The case of Malawi
title_fullStr Assessing the potential of HTA to inform resource allocation decisions in low-income settings: The case of Malawi
title_full_unstemmed Assessing the potential of HTA to inform resource allocation decisions in low-income settings: The case of Malawi
title_short Assessing the potential of HTA to inform resource allocation decisions in low-income settings: The case of Malawi
title_sort assessing the potential of hta to inform resource allocation decisions in low-income settings: the case of malawi
topic Public Health
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9650047/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36388387
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2022.1010702
work_keys_str_mv AT ramponifrancesco assessingthepotentialofhtatoinformresourceallocationdecisionsinlowincomesettingsthecaseofmalawi
AT tweapakwanja assessingthepotentialofhtatoinformresourceallocationdecisionsinlowincomesettingsthecaseofmalawi
AT chilimabenson assessingthepotentialofhtatoinformresourceallocationdecisionsinlowincomesettingsthecaseofmalawi
AT nkhomadominic assessingthepotentialofhtatoinformresourceallocationdecisionsinlowincomesettingsthecaseofmalawi
AT kazangachiumiaisabel assessingthepotentialofhtatoinformresourceallocationdecisionsinlowincomesettingsthecaseofmalawi
AT manthalugerald assessingthepotentialofhtatoinformresourceallocationdecisionsinlowincomesettingsthecaseofmalawi
AT mfutsobengojoseph assessingthepotentialofhtatoinformresourceallocationdecisionsinlowincomesettingsthecaseofmalawi
AT revillpaul assessingthepotentialofhtatoinformresourceallocationdecisionsinlowincomesettingsthecaseofmalawi
AT drummondmichael assessingthepotentialofhtatoinformresourceallocationdecisionsinlowincomesettingsthecaseofmalawi
AT sculphermark assessingthepotentialofhtatoinformresourceallocationdecisionsinlowincomesettingsthecaseofmalawi