By Rachel Bacon, MPH, Project Manager
CEVR Director, Peter Neumann, ScD, and David Kim, PhD, Assistant Professor, are both attending and presenting during the annual Prince Mahidol Award Conference (PMAC) in Bangkok, Thailand, taking place from January 29 – February 3, 2019. PMAC is co-hosted by the Thai Prince Mahidol Award Foundation, The Thai Ministry of Public Health, Mahidol University, the World Health Organization, the World Bank, U.S. Agency for International Development, Japan International Cooperation Agency, and the Rockefeller Foundation.
This high profile, international conference focusing on policy-related health issues has a timely global health theme for 2019: “The political economy of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) – A whole society approach.” The conference is set to convene a diverse attendance group (policy makers, ministries of finance, HTA agencies, civil society organizations, development partners, academia, and industry) to address the body of prevention evidence, best practices, and gaps in knowledge around curbing NCDs, which have rapidly increased in prominence and contribution to disease burden in low- and middle-income countries over the last 10 years.
Dr. Neumann is a featured panelist for the Parallel Session 2.5: “Best Buys, Wasted Buys and Controversies in NCD prevention,” (moderated by Anthony Culyer, University of York) on February 2nd. The panel is centered on preliminary findings from a PMAC, Institute for Population and Social Research, and Mahidol University-commissioned book that will serve as an “evidence package” on the topic. Dr. Neumann is the lead author (with other CEVR contributing authors David Kim, PhD and Rachel Bacon, MPH) of the chapter: “Assessing transferability of economic evaluations: decision framework for identifying locally relevant best- and wasted-buys" (preliminary title). Other expert groups contributing to additional chapters include the Health Intervention and Technology Assessment Program (HiTAP), the International Decision Support Initiative (iDSI), Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, the Indian Council of Medical Research, Hitotsubashi University, and Public Health England.
The projected release date for the official book, Best Buys, Wasted Buys, and Controversies in Non-Communicable Disease Prevention, is late 2019 or early 2020.