Held on 24-28 June, the NUS Initiative to Improve Health in Asia Leadership Development Programme (NIHA LDP) 2019 was organised by the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, and co-hosted by National Health Foundation Thailand, the Access and Delivery Partnership (ADP) and the International Decision Support Initiative (iDSI).
More than 70 senior regulators, health policymakers and practitioners from 18 countries took part in the programme with the theme ‘Advancing Universal Health Coverage (UHC) through the use of Health Technology Assessment (HTA) for health care priority setting and reimbursement’.
The programme covered topics such as priority benefit setting in UHC, political economy of UHC and HTA, hospital-based HTA, decision-making of new vaccines, among others. Site visits to National Kidney Foundation Singapore and National University Centre for Oral Health gave participants a glimpse into HTA practices in Singapore.
To end off the five-day programme, Professor Teo Yik Ying said, “Leadership, education and networking are the keys in advancing UHC through HTA. Working together is the way forward to help each other in the region to achieve the goal of UHC.”
NIHA LDP 2019 was well-received by the participants who appreciated the sharing of knowledge and case studies from various countries. Furthermore, the programme served as a platform for networking to boost potential regional collaboration in the health sector, especially in UHC and HTA.
“It was a great learning experience especially on UHC and how HTA can play a role on achieving UHC. I also had an opportunity to understand the good practices from other countries and will try to implement the good practices in our country also as we progress towards achieving UHC,” said Dr Pandup Tshering, Director General, Department of Medical Services, Ministry of Health, Bhutan.
View more photos of NIHA LDP 2019 here.