International Journal of Health Policy and Management

International Journal of Health Policy and Management

Evidence-Informed Deliberative Processes for Universal Health Coverage: Broadening the Scope; Comment on “Priority Setting for Universal Health Coverage: We Need Evidence-Informed Deliberative Processes, Not Just More Evidence on Cost-Effectiveness”

Document Type : Commentary

Authors
Unni Gopinathan 1, 2
Trygve Ottersen 1, 2
1 Oslo Group on Global Health Policy, Department of Community Medicine and Global Health and Centre for Global Health, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
2 Department of International Public Health, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway
10.15171/ijhpm.2016.148
Abstract
Universal health coverage (UHC) is high on the global health agenda, and priority setting is fundamental to the fair and efficient pursuit of this goal. In a recent editorial, Rob Baltussen and colleagues point to the need to go beyond evidence on cost-effectiveness and call for evidence-informed deliberative processes when setting priorities for UHC. Such processes are crucial at every step on the path to UHC, and hopefully we will see intensified efforts to develop and implement processes of this kind in the coming years. However, if this does happen, it will be essential to ensure a sufficiently broad scope in at least two respects. First, the design of evidence-informed priority-setting processes needs to go beyond a simple view on the relationship between evidence and policy and adapt to a diverse set of factors shaping this relationship. Second, these processes should go beyond a focus on clinical services to accommodate also public health interventions. Together, this can help strengthen priority-setting processes and bolster progress towards UHC and the Sustainable Development Goals.
Keywords
Universal Health Coverage (UHC)
Priority Setting
Evidence-Informed Deliberative Processes
Public
Health Interventions
Subjects
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International Journal of Health Policy and Management
Volume 6, Issue 8
2017
Pages 473-475

  • Received Date 02 October 2016
  • Revised Date 20 November 2016
  • Accepted Date 21 November 2016
  • First Published Date 01 August 2017
  • Published Date 01 August 2017