Can health technology assessments assist the global campaign against poverty?

Abstract

Although a key tenant of the Sustainable Development Goals is to achieve universal health coverage, the global drug gap persists—over a third of the global population lack access to essential medicines. Without access to affordable drugs, people have worse health outcomes, higher medical expenses, and productivity loss, pushing them into poverty. Health technology assessments (HTAs) offer an opportunity to decrease the global drug gap and increase access to essential medicines by overcoming barriers to medicine access. These barriers include drug procurement, drug affordability for payers and patients, a patient's ability to obtain essential medicines, and health system capacity. Using HTAs can therefore close the global drug gap by increasing access to affordable essential medicines. In turn, people have better health outcomes, spend less money on medical care, and can have better productivity. Ultimately, use of HTAs can lift the population out of poverty and force fewer people into poverty by creating better health outcomes at affordable prices.

Keywords

• Health technology assessment (HTA)
• Poverty
• Global drug gap
• Barriers
• Challenge
• Low- and middle-income countries (LMICs)