Introducing Equity into Economic Evaluation: Distributional Cost-Effectiveness Analysis

11th Annual HTAsiaLink Conference

A/Prof Natalie Carvalho and Ms Marie-Anne Boujaoude from M-VAC and Melbourne Health Economics - Australia, together with collaborators from HITAP - Thailand, Dr Sitanshu Sekhar Kar from JIPMER - India, Dr Kyoko Shimamoto from Keio University – Japan, and Dr Gunjeet Kaur from the National University of Singapore - Singapore, a pre-conference session was developed and run at the 11th HTAsiaLink conference in Putrajaya, Malaysia on the 4th to the 7th of September 2023.

The session offered a timely regional workshop for discussing and learning about the incorporation of equity in HTA and the exchange of ideas between leading academics and policymakers to further advance the understanding around the topic.

The workshop was divided into 2 parts: The first part briefly introduced distributional cost-effectiveness analysis (DCEA) to the audience including the key methodological steps involved in the analysis and some of the associated challenges. It also presented of a series of short presentations from country representatives in the Asian region. It will provided insights into how equity is taken into account in HTA processes within different countries in the region.

The second part consisted of a hands-on learning experience to equip participants with some knowledge and practical skills to elicit health inequality aversion parameters, which can ultimately be used when applying equity informative economic evaluations.

The workshop fostered collaborations across groups and individuals with an interest in health equity and facilitated the identification of common goals and challenges, and the establishment of partnerships, tools and skills to achieve them.