EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Health Intervention and Technology Assessment Program Foundation (HITAP), Thailand, undertook a mission to Colombo, Sri Lanka, supported by the World Bank Group. The mission aimed to support national efforts to strengthen capacity on health priority setting and institutionalise health technology assessment (HTA).
HITAP contributed as a technical partner to the Health Economic Analysis for Evidence Driven Health Policies workshop (3–4 March 2026). This workshop was co-hosted by the Ministry of Health & Mass Media, the University of Sri Jayewardenepura, and the World Bank Group. It combined a two-day technical workshop — covering the principles of health economic evaluation, cost-effectiveness analysis, and the application of HTA to priority setting, procurement, and benefit-package design. Country experiences from Japan, China, Thailand, and India were also shared and discussed during the workshop. In addition to that, to understand current landscape of HTA in Sri Lanka, HITAP received a kind opportunity to conduct a situational analysis, through the launch of an online survey, to assess stakeholder
perspectives on the need, demand, and supply for HTA in the country. This report has been developed to provide a summary of the mission, as well as an overview of the survey’s aggregated results.
The survey was completed by 22 respondents (16 completed; 72.7% completion rate), predominantly from government institutions (68%). Respondents expressed near-universal support for HTA and a clear recognition that the health system is operating under tightening resource constraints. Efficient allocation of resources was perceived to be the most highly valued attribute of HTA (90% rating it “very important”), followed by transparency, financial protection, and quality of care. Budget impact and cost-effectiveness were also consistently prioritised as decision criteria. Clinical guideline development, service delivery, and benefit package design emerged as the leading policy applications of HTA, while medicines, medical devices, and vaccines were the highest-priority technologies. The Ministry of Health was identified as the principal future user and generator of HTA evidence.
At the same time, respondents identified substantial systemic constraints. Existing evidence-informed mechanisms — such as essential medicines lists and immunisation programmes — remain fragmented and are not yet institutionalised within a comprehensive HTA framework. Local data are relatively limited, with hospital utilisation, pharmaceutical pricing, and health-outcome data frequently available only with limitations, and linked patient-level information systems largely absent. Capacity gaps are pronounced across both evidence users and generators, spanning introductory HTA, health economics, decision making criteria, systematic review, and economic modelling. A Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analysis points to current strengths within Sri Lankan context. For example, these included having a skilled workforce, strong public health and epidemiological infrastructure, and growing academic expertise. These set against weaknesses in HTA expertise, data systems, and formal governance pathways, and threats from fiscal constraints and limited policymaker awareness. Nevertheless, opportunities are also presented, including growing international engagement with partners, as well as awareness and interests from decision-makers and other relevant stakeholders.
Taken together, the findings suggest that Sri Lanka is at an important stage in the development of HTA. Stakeholder awareness and interest are growing, and several institutional foundations already exist. However, further progress will require a phased and context-sensitive approach that establishes governance arrangements for HTA, builds sustainable technical capacity, strengthens health information systems and local data, enhances policymaker engagement, and leverages continued regional and international collaboration. With sustained political commitment, long-term investment, and cross sector collaboration, HTA has the potential to become an important mechanism for improving the efficiency, equity, transparency, and sustainability of healthcare decision making in Sri Lanka.
