International health experts to deliberate on HTA

International health experts, including from the UK, will meet here this month to deliberate on raising awareness about 'Health Technology Assessment'.
Saumya Swaminathan, DG Indian Council of Medical Research, said the main objective of the international consultative workshop - organised by the Health Ministry - is to increase awareness about HTA and its role in priority setting.
"The workshop will also aim to consult key stakeholders from government, academic, public health, and private health providers on how MTAB can be most effectively and comprehensively established," she said.
It aims to gain the support of policy and decision-makers in India towards the formal adoption of HTA and to initiate national and international collaboration and networking on it.

The consultative workshop on HTA will also deliberate on plans of the Department of Health Research's proposed Medical Technology Advisory Board (MTAB).
The need to establish such a board was discussed and recommended by the 12th Plan Working Group on Health Research.

The workshop will be organized on July 25 and will have presentations, discussions, and evidence consideration on HTA.
Health Minister J P Nadda will deliver the inaugural address at the workshop attended by officials of Indian, the UK, and Thailand governments.
HTA is a method of synthesis that considers evidence regarding clinical effectiveness, safety, cost-effectiveness and, when broadly applied, includes social, ethical, and legal aspects of the use of health technologies.

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Using data from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors (GBD) study between 1990 and 2015, Stephen Lim from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington in Seattle and colleagues estimated the current status of 33 of the 47 health-related SDG-indicators
To enable easier comparison, they created a health- related SDG index (with a rating of 0-100) that combines these 33 health-related indicators to measure progress for 188 countries between 1990 and 2015.
"With more than 1,870 individual collaborators in 124 countries and three territories, our independent analysis identifies high and low-performing countries to help guide national policies and donor investments and provides a strong basis for monitoring progress towards the health-related SDGs for 188 countries over the next 15 years," Lim said.

Despite creating a single measure of health (the SDG- index), the authors note that the findings are based on available data, estimates, and modelling.
The authors called for more investment in high-quality data collection systems including censuses and vital registration and health management information systems, to ensure progress towards the SDGs can be properly monitored.
The study said over 60 per cent of countries have already met the 2030 targets on reducing maternal (less than 70 deaths per 1,00,000 live births) and child mortality (25 deaths per 1000 live births).
No country has met any of the nine targets on the full elimination of diseases like tuberculosis and HIV, or reducing prevalence of health outcomes like childhood overweight incidences and intimate partner violence to 0 per cent, it said.

The authors warned that given the modest progress in HIV and tuberculosis over the last 25 years, the vision of ending these epidemics in the next 15 years is highly unrealistic.
"A substantial change in the current trajectory of HIV and tuberculosis incidence will be needed-likely requiring major technological leaps coupled with universal delivery-to meet this target," the authors said.
The study said less than a fifth of countries have met the 2030 target to eliminate stunting and wasting in children under five.
Only around a quarter of countries have achieved the target to substantially reduce exposure to household air pollution and less than a fifth of countries have achieved universal access to safe and affordable water and sanitation, it said.