On January 22nd, HFACT partners and colleagues gathered in Delhi (India) for a three day conference to discuss future research, cross-country collaboration, capacity strengthening activities and policy engagement.
On the first day, each partner provided research updates followed by comments, questions and feedback from the room. CHEPS shared exciting updates on cost effectiveness thresholds and HTA practices in Indonesia. Fipe discussed mental health and mineral royalties in Brazil. PRICELESS SA presented on governance and health taxes in South Africa. Imperial College and CHE shared collaborative research on health financing systems in our focus countries. Lastly, IEG colleagues shared a wide range of research on state capacity in India. Later in the evening, a group dinner was held for meeting attendees and external speakers who had been invited to participate in the joint HFACT/World Bank session on the following day.
On the second day, the morning session covered a range of topics including research updates from the IEPS team on topics such as public spending in Brazil. We also discussed potential cross-cutting papers and engagement with policymakers. In the afternoon, Ajay Tandon and his World Bank colleagues helped chair a session on ‘Lessons from UHC reform efforts across Asia-Pacific’. Our external guest speakers from Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam shared various efforts to advance UHC including sin taxes, transitioning to diagnostic related groups, addressing non-communicable diseases and strengthening primary healthcare. Many thanks to Wei Aun Yap, Borwornsom Leerapan, Valerie Ulep and Sarah Bales for sharing your insights!
The second part of the afternoon session focused on reforms within the four HFACT-focus countries (India, South Africa, Indonesia and Brazil). Indu Bhushan, the architect of the Ayushman Bharat (PM-JAY), presented the effectiveness and impact of the scheme. Sampath Kumar, Principal Secretary and Development Commissioner, also shared updates on the work to improve healthcare in the state of Meghalya. Evelyn Thsehla provided an overview of the new National Health Insurance scheme in South Africa, followed by Fernando Postali who outlined reforms to Primary Health Care in Brazil. Finally, Budi Hidayat gave an overview of Indonesia’s health transformation progress.
On the final day of the conference, we reflected and discussed all that was presented in the last two days. It provided an opportunity to identify more collaborative opportunities across partners researching similar themes. We also identified new ideas and reforms for further development. Afterwards, HFACT partners gave an overview of their success stories in capacity strengthening. This included training Masters / PhD students, developing short courses, building local capacity and trainee exchanges. In 2024, HFACT held 4 successful trainee exchanges across partner countries and participants were provided a first-hand account of the experience. Joshua Samuel, a research assistant at IEG India, shared his fruitful exchange experience in Brazil and highlighted the importance of cross-country learning.
We would like to thank our Indian partners for all their help in organising a successful event and our HFACT colleagues for their participation and fruitful discussions.
