The English Policy Brief Collection (Volume 1) presents a selection of policy briefs published by the HITAP Foundation. These policy briefs have been categorized under the following key topics: Chapter 1: Designing Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and Healthcare Systems Chapter 2: Managing Rare

Thailand has successfully implemented economic evaluation to inform the inclusion of new, branded medicines within its National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM). This method can be used to assess the health value that new medicines will generate for patients after accounting for the health los

Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) and represents a significant global health concern. Infectious agents can be easily spread through respiratory droplets, and TB patients face a significant risk of mortality. The traditional sputum-based TB

The National Health Security Office Working Group (NHSO WG) conducted structured, evidence-based deliberations to generate recommendations for the National Health Security Board on the kidney replacement therapy (KRT) policy. These are the proposed recommendations: To consider defining KRT p

Horizon Scanning (HS) is the process of identifying new and emerging technologies before uptake into practice to evaluate the potential impact to inform decision-making. In the European Union (EU), the EuroScan International Network was established in 1997 and over time, given its expanded geogr

Australia developed the Life-Saving Drugs Program (LSDP) in 1995 to complement the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS), expanding access to high-cost drugs for rare diseases (DRD). This program, funded and administered by the Department of Health and Aged Care, permitted sponsors (often pharmaceuti

Thailand spent 440,023 million baht on healthcare in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020–2022, of which 257,892 million baht went toward COVID-19 tests, treatments, and vaccination services. In addition to having higher hospital reserves than in the pre-pandemic period, private hospital

The Cancer Drug Fund (CDF) is a dedicated source of funding in England for increasing patient access to high-cost cancer drugs, with a fixed budget of £340 million per year, operating since 2016. The CDF follows the appraisal by the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) whic

This policy brief provides a summary of a recent review of the definition of rare diseases, high cost and how HTA has been used in the case of rare diseases in seven countries. The countries were purposively selected based on them having established HTA policies and availability of resources in the

Because of their rarity, rare diseases are often treated with what the industry refers to as ‘orphan drugs’. These group of drugs are quite expensive because of the fewer number of people suffering from such sickness and usually provide low profit to manufacturer compared to other common drug for n