KATHMANDU, JULY 25
A health economics for policy fellowship aimed at strengthening health authorities' capacity to translate evidence into policy-relevant communication began in Dhulikhel today. Around 40 officials from federal and provincial government officials together with representatives from universities are attending the event.
The programme is being held under the first-of-its-kind year-long fellowship, "Health Economics for Policy: Module III (Evidence Communication)". The previous modules of the fellowship focused on building participants' technical understanding. Module-I covered the linkage between health economics concepts and policy, as well as their application in real-world health policies and programmes, while Module-II focused on healthcare financing and the practical application of health economic analysis. In-person capacity strengthening sessions and experiential learning projects form a key part of the three modules.
Organised by the Ministry of Health and Food Safety (MoHFS), the fellowship has been technically supported by the Bergen Centre for Ethics and Priority Setting in Health (BCEPS) at the University of Bergen (UiB) through Nepal Health Economics Association (NHEA) and Kathmandu University School of Medical Sciences (KUSMS), in partnership with the World Health Organization and the World Bank. It is one of the key activities under the capacity-strengthening pillar of the ongoing NORAD-funded project on priority setting for universal health coverage (UHC) in Nepal, a collaborative initiative between MoHFS and UiB's BCEPS.
Speaking at the inaugural session, MoHFS Additional Secretary Dr Shree Krishna Shrestha highlighted differences in budget allocations across different areas. "In some places, the budget is high, while in others it is low. We need to consider whether resources can be better distributed to address such imbalances," he said. "You (the fellows for health economics) have studied these issues from a health policy and economics perspective, identified possible steps and are presenting them for further discussion. This is a good initiative."
Calling for evidence-informed decisions, Dr Guna Nidhi Sharma, Chief of the Policy, Planning and Monitoring Division at MoHFS, stressed the importance of converting knowledge into action and measurable results. "In the past, we focused on action, but now action must be supported by knowledge and must ultimately produce results for people," he said. "Health challenges can be complex, but we should use our knowledge to translate evidence into practical action."
Similarly, highlighting the role of evidence in improving health services, Prof. Dr Shiva Raj Adhikari, Chairperson of NHEA, said investment decisions should be supported by clear information on their results. "We need to generate clear evidence showing that investment in basic and primary health care yields higher productivity," he said, adding that we should communicate evidence in a way that supports better policy decisions.
Dr Biraj Man Karmacharya, Chief Administrative Officer at KUSMS, emphasised the need to connect training with the practical needs of the country's health system. "We must bridge the gap between academic learning and practical work by creating opportunities for people to learn while working and apply that knowledge within the health system," he said.
The Module III is designed to provide policy makers working at federal and sub-national levels, with practical policy communication skills to support the use of health economics evidence in decision-making. Among others, it covers translating scientific evidence into policy-relevant messages, understanding financial hardship in the evolving health financing context, costing methodologies and experiences in costing candidate interventions for the basic health service package, and preparing policy briefs and evidence summaries.