This year’s conference was held at La Than Hotel in Hanoi, Vietnam from 17th to 19th April 2017 organized by Health Strategy and Planning Institute (HSPI), Ministry of Health, Vietnam. Around 120 participants attended the conference. The theme this year was ‘Health Technology Assessment in designing and implementing Benefit Package for Universal Health Coverage (UHC)’.
Picture: Officials from HSPI
The conference was divided into 3 categories of sessions which are as follows
- The plenary session
- The health systems research sessions (elective)
- The Economic Evaluation for benefit package development sessions (elective)
During the preconference on the 17th of April, 2017, GEAR online resource website was launched. A small demonstration of the website for the participants attending this session was done too.
HITAP also set up a GEAR booth that had various activities going on such as a daily lucky draw, the GEAR frame in which the participants could have their pictures taken and the Thai National dresses to try on to promote next year’s conference. Participants who registered at the GEAR website during the conference were given GEAR caps too.
IDSI also made a presentation on F1000 database during the preconference sessions of the conference. This F1000 database is an open access platform for knowledge products such as policy briefs, newsletter, publications, etc.
A total of 11 presenters from HITAP were selected to present their researches and projects and Ms. Saudamini Dabak bagged the 3rd prize for her presentation on ‘The Need, Demand, and Supply for Health Technology Assessment in India’ under the health system research theme.
Towards the end of the conference, Professor Vicharn made a speech to conclude this year’s conference and welcomed everyone to the next years and while he was delivering his speech Thai souvenirs were distributed to participants as a gesture of welcoming them for the next year’s conference which is to be held Thailand.
After the conference concluded, there was a HTAsiaLink members’ meeting held on the 20th of April, 2017. 3 new member of the HTAsiaLink were approved during this meeting namely Shanghai Health Technology Assessment Research Center, Health Technology Assessment Program from Mahidol University, and InaHTAC (Indonesia Health Technology Assessment Committee), Ministry of Health, Republic of Indonesia. National Evidence-based healthcare Collaborating Agency (NECA) took over the charges as the secretariat to the HTAsiaLink and the roles of the secretariat were updated too. During this meeting, the current conference was evaluated and the upcoming conference was discussed. This meeting also decided the venue for the 2018 conference to be Chiang Mai with the theme ‘Sustainability and Independence of HTA Institution and Financing for HTA study’. New members were voted for board members. Finally, it ended with discussing communication strategies for and within HTAsiaLink members.
