Two researchers of HIAS Health, Dr. Ryota Nakamura (Associate Professor, Hitotsubashi Institute for Advanced Study, Hitotsubashi University) and Dr. Thomas Rouyard (Postdoctoral Researcher, Hitotsubashi Institute for Advanced Study, Hitotsubashi University) participated in the 2nd Advisory Committee Meeting of the Southeast Asia Partnership for Policy and Health Intervention Research and Evaluation (SAPPHIRE) held in Ayutthaya, Thailand, on August 13-14.
SAPPHIRE is a newly founded health technology assessment (HTA) consortium spurred by the International Decision Support Initiative (iDSI), a global network of institutions funded by the Gates Foundation to achieve Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and the health Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 3). Founding members include Asian research and policy institutions such as the Thai National Health Foundation (NHF), the Health Intervention and Technology Assessment Program (HITAP), and the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health (National University of Singapore - NUS).
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| Participants of the 2nd Advisory Committee Meeting of the Asia HTA consortium “SAPPHIRE”, including members of the Thai NHF, HITAP, NUS, Mahidol Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit (MORU), and HIAS Health. |
SAPPHIRE aims to provide health, policy, and economic support to governments of low- and middle-income countries in order to foster adoption of evidence-based and efficient healthcare decisions. Technical assistance to supported countries will focus on setting local priorities for achieving UHC with the aim of maximizing the value of health spending and increasing the associated impact on population health.
The objective of the meeting was to establish the strategic orientation and the governance structure of the organization, as well as to develop a preliminary list of projects involving cross-institutional collaboration. HIAS health has become an institutional member of SAPPHIRE and will contribute to broaden its scope of action via its current involvement in Senegal and Bhutan (joint research projects with the Japanese International Cooperation Agency - JICA). As such, Dr. Nakamura will serve as a member of the Operation Committee of SAPPHIRE.