This free 90-minute webinar (13:00–14:30 UTC, Monday 1 September 2026) examines how health financing decisions shape the efficiency of health systems and countries'' progress toward Universal Health Coverage (UHC). It is convened by the Health Systems'' Efficiency Special Interest Group (EFFSIG) of the International Health Economics Association and hosted on Zoom.
The panel brings together international experts from the World Bank, Thailand''s Health Intervention and Technology Assessment Program (HITAP), and Egypt''s health financing authorities to work through the practical questions that determine whether health spending actually buys health: priority setting, strategic purchasing, resource allocation, financing reform, evidence-informed policymaking, and the governance factors that quietly decide health system performance.
Speakers
- Prof. Wanrudee Isaranuwatchai (HITAP, Thailand) — how health technology assessment and economic evidence inform priority setting, benefit package design, coverage decisions and resource allocation, drawing on Thailand''s widely studied experience.
- Dr. Nouran El Desouky (Ministry of Finance, Egypt) — strategic purchasing and health financing reform in practice: provider payment, budgeting, resource allocation and the realities of implementation.
- Denizhan Duran, Senior Health Economist (World Bank) — a cross-country perspective on financing architecture, institutional decision-making and efficiency evidence, including lessons from Latin America and the Caribbean.
Moderated by Dr. Rahab Mbau and Dr. Allama Elmehdi, co-convenors of the IHEA Health Systems'' Efficiency SIG.
Why attend
Efficiency is the quietest lever in health policy: most systems cannot spend their way to UHC, so the gains have to come from allocating and purchasing better. By combining a single-country HTA view, a live reform programme, and a multilateral cross-country lens in one session, the webinar gives health economists, ministry planners, insurers and health system researchers a rare side-by-side comparison of how the same financing problem is being solved in very different settings.
Who should attend
Health economists, health policy and financing specialists, ministry of health and ministry of finance staff, HTA agency teams, insurance and purchasing bodies, public health researchers, and postgraduate students in health economics and health policy.
Registration is free via Zoom; a confirmation email with the joining link and a calendar option is sent on registration.
