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Balancing budgets and coverage on the road to determining Health Benefit Packages: iDSI hosts three major events bringing together policy-makers from around the world

By Madeleine Stewart Nov. 12, 2018

Although needs and available resources will undoubtedly differ by country, many face similar challenges on the road to determining an essential package of health benefits as part of Universal Health Coverage (UHC). As part of three recent events, which saw hundreds working in health policy gather in Accra, Liverpool and London, iDSI sought to delve into important factors that guide …

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Health Technology Assessment proves a hit as almost 100 delegates attend sustainable resource allocation event in Accra

By Madeleine Stewart Sep. 30, 2018

Almost 100 delegates policy representatives from across Africa and Europe gathered in Accra, Ghana this month for a special event that focused on sustainable resource allocation policies for low and middle income countries (LMICs), co-hosted by iDSI and Health Technology Assessment international (HTAi). The two-day ‘Setting Priorities Fairly: Sustainable Policies for Effective Resource Allocation’ event, opened Ghana’s Deputy Minister for …

Chatham House Fellowship for West Africa Global Health Leaders

May. 23, 2016

Applications are now open for a 12-month fellowship programme starting in September 2016 and funded by the Rockefeller Foundation. Chatham House are seeking applications from individuals from West Africa with a background in public health or senior management who wish to enhance their policy-making and leadership skills and effect change. For more information, including potential research topics for 2016, see the link …

First steps towards HTA and priority setting in Ghana

By Françoise Cluzeau May. 5, 2016

Dr Francoise Cluzeau, Associate Director NICE International and Prof Jo Lord from Southampton Health Technology Assessment Centre ran a workshop in Accra  with a multi stakeholder working group to help them develop a health economics model for the pharmacological treatment of hypertension and using the Ghana national Standard Treatment Guidelines. The workshop was coordinated by the Directorate of Pharmaceuticals of …

NICE International continuing its engagement work in Sub-Saharan Africa

Nov. 2, 2015

November 2015 NICE International supported Dr Miqdad Asaria, Research Fellow at the Centre for Health Economics, University of York to travel to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from 21-27 November 2015. Dr Asaria conducted a series of meetings with colleagues in Ethiopia, including from the Ethiopian Public Health Institute (EPHI), Overseas Development Institute, the Clinton Health Access Initiative, and other senior academics. …

NICE International supports the development of learning health systems in Sub-Saharan Africa

Aug. 26, 2015

August 2015 NICE International were involved in an initiative to develop ‘learning health systems’ in Sub-Saharan Africa. At the beginning of August 2015, Kalipso Chalkidou represented NICE International at a 3-day meeting at the Rockefeller Foundation Center in Bellagio, Italy. The meeting was convened to explore the potential for developing a new initiative, with the aim of and building capacity …

Scoping visit to Ethiopia

Jan. 2, 2015

January 2015 Associate director of NICE International Francoise Cluzeau undertook a scoping visit to Ethiopia in conjunction with the Institute of Tropical Medicine (Antwerp) and EVIDENT, an extensive network of North-South partners that aims to enhance evidence-informed decision-making and policy driven research in both health and nutrition in response to local priority concerns. The visit included meetings with the State …

WHO Eastern Medditeranean Regional Office meeting

Dec. 2, 2014

December 2014 Members of NICE International, at the request of the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office (EMRO) attended as expert advisers to the second inter-country meeting on Health Technology Assessment (HTA), held in Cairo, Egypt. We had the opportunity to present the governance and evidence collection processes within NICE, and to discuss and share experience with colleagues from across the …

International knowledge network for nutrition in Africa  

Sep. 2, 2014

NICE International attended the kick off meeting of the International knowledge network for nutrition in Africa, of which it is a partner. This initiative builds on a previous EU-funded project SUNRAY (Sustainable Nutrition Research for Africa in the years to come) that showed that knowledge on nutrition needs to be strengthened, formalized, shared, and used as the basis for setting priorities in …

Project work in Ghana 2012 – 2014

Sep. 1, 2014

click here for the latest on iDSI activity in Ghana. Between 2012 and 2014, the Rockefeller Foundation funded NICE International to support a series of initiatives with the Ministry of Health and associated agencies, including The National Health Insurance Agency (NHIA), The Ghana Health Service (GHS, the largest provider agency) and the Ghana National Drugs Programme. The key objective of this …