“polypill” combining a statin with blood pressure drugs could prevent thousands of heart attacks and strokes every year, according to researchers.A UK study of 84 over-50s, published in the journal PLoS One, showed the pill could cut blood pressure and levels of “bad” cholesterol.They called for the

The Health Technology Assessment (HTA), which is a crucial tool for setting health intervention priorities, has been rapidly developing in Asia-Pacific, but is still not fully employed by many countries in policy decision making. Although HTA institutions and networks have been operating successfully in OECD countries and a few of the middle-income

With Universal Health Coverage (UHC) high on the global health agenda, governments of many low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) have pledged to increase health investments in the scale-up of essential health services to meet the needs of their people. This has led to the recognition of health te

The Health Protection Agency (HPA) has issued a warning about the dangers of picking poisonous mushrooms.It says foragers should be aware that it is easy to mix up toxic with non-toxic varieties.Dozens of people seek medical advice each year after eating wild mushrooms which they have picked themsel

In 2016 Bhutan graduated from Gavi support as its socioeconomic status change from lower-income to lower-middle income country, hence introducing new vaccines to its routine vaccination programme can pose a long-term financial burden to the government. However, since pneumococcal infections is a maj

The upcoming Prince Mahidol Award Conference (PMAC) 2016 is set to be held in Bangkok, Thailand from the 26th to the 31st of January 2016. This event is hosted by the Prince Mahidol Award Foundation, the Thai Ministry of Public Health and Mahidol University in collaboration with its global partners.

PMAC 2016 Side Event (SE 026): Making decision makers accountable: better journalism – better chances of getting to Universal Health CoverageThis workshop will bring together journalists, bloggers and editors from around the world to share stories of reporting countries’ journey towards and efforts

PMAC 2016 Side Event (SE 014): Advanced Workshop in Methods for HTAThe methods of HTA have developed rapidly in the last decade. This is particularly the case in assessing the cost-effectiveness of interventions using modelling methods and in undertaking uncertainty analysis to guide decisions. Deci

PMAC 2016 Side Event (SE 013): Introduction to Health Intervention and Technology Assessment: HITA 101“Health Intervention and Technology Assessment (HITA) is recognized as a tool in support of universal health coverage (UHC) to inform policy decision. It becomes an increasingly important part of pr