Health Technology Assessment in Developing Countries: Analysing Challenges with the AHP Approach

Year 2025, Volume: 7 Issue: 2, 456 - 464, 07.08.2025

Emre Yılmaz

https://doi.org/10.46413/boneyusbad.1566864

Abstract

Aim: This study aims to determine the relative importance of the challenges encountered in health technology assessment processes in developing countries by using the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) method and to provide strategic solutions for improvement.
Material and Method: As a result of the literature review, 8 main challenges encountered in health technology assessment processes were identified. These challenges were evaluated by 6 experts from the fields of health management, health informatics and health economics through the AHP method.
Results: AHP results show that the most important challenge in health technology assessment is financial resource constraint with a normalized weight score of 35.06%. This challenge was followed by physical and infrastructure deficiencies (21.11%) and poor quality and inconsistent data flow (16.44%).
Conclusion: To overcome the most pressing challenge of financial resource constraints, it is imperative that governments and stakeholders’ priorities health financing reforms that increase budget allocations for health technology assessments. Accordingly, prioritizing public-private partnerships can help in this regard. These partnerships contribute to alleviate the financial burden on the public sector in the field of health technology and facilitate access to innovative technological solutions offered by the private sector.

Keywords

Health technology assessment , Multi-criteria decision making method , Analytical hierarchy process , Health management

Gelişmekte Olan Ülkelerde Sağlık Teknolojisi Değerlendirmesi: AHS Yaklaşımı ile Zorlukların Analizi

Abstract

Amaç: Bu çalışmada, gelişmekte olan ülkelerde sağlık teknolojisi değerlendirme süreçlerinde karşılaşılan zorlukların göreceli önemini Analitik Hiyerarşi Süreci (AHS) yaklaşımını kullanarak belirlemek ve iyileştirme için stratejik çözüm önerileri sunmak amaçlanmıştır.
Gereç ve Yöntem: Literatür taraması doğrultusunda sağlık teknolojisi değerlendirme süreçlerinde karşılaşılan sekiz ana zorluk belirlenmiştir. Bu zorluklar sağlık yönetimi, sağlık bilişimi ve sağlık ekonomisi alanlarından 6 uzman tarafından AHS yaklaşımı aracılığıyla değerlendirilmiştir.
Bulgular: AHS sonuçları, sağlık teknolojisi değerlendirmesindeki en önemli zorluğun %35.06 normalleştirilmiş ağırlık puanı ile finansal kaynak kısıtı olduğunu göstermektedir. Bu zorluğu fiziki ve altyapı eksiklikleri (%21.11) ve kalitesiz ve tutarsız veri akışı (%16.44) izlemiştir.
Sonuç: En acil zorluk olan finansal kaynak kısıtının üstesinden gelmek için, hükümetlerin ve paydaşların sağlık teknolojisi değerlendirmeleri için bütçe tahsislerini artıran sağlık finansmanı reformlarına öncelik vermeleri zorunludur. Bu doğrultuda, kamu-özel sektör iş birliklerine öncelik vermek bu konuda yardımcı olabilir. Bu ortaklıklar, sağlık teknolojisi alanında kamunun üzerindeki finansal yükü hafifletmeye ve özel sektör tarafından sunulan yenilikçi teknolojik çözümlere erişimi kolaylaştırmaya katkı sağlamaktadır.

Keywords

Sağlık teknolojisi değerlendirme , Çok kriterli karar verme yöntemi , Analitik hiyerarşi süreci , Sağlık yönetimi

Ethical Statement

Araştırmanın bilimsel açıdan uygun olduğu, İstanbul Medipol Üniversitesi Girişimsel Olmayan Klinik Araştırmalar Etik Kurulu tarafından 05/09/2024 tarih, E- 10840098-202.3.02-5388 sayılı karar ile onaylanmıştır.

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