A scoping review of health economic evaluation in the World Health Organization Eastern Mediterranean region

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Economic evaluations are widely used tools that greatly contribute to evidence-based health policy and decision-making. However, economic evidence is not commonly used in the countries of the World Health Organization Eastern Mediterranean Region.

Areas covered: The aim of this scoping review is to map the existing literature of health economic evaluation studies in the countries of the World Health Organization Eastern Mediterranean Region. Also, the review aims to identify the research gaps in the field of health economic evaluation in the region and finally provide recommendations for research and policy making. We searched six electronic databases. Six items were extracted from each of the included studies: first author, publication year, country of the study, study type, health technology assessed, and perspective.

Expert opinion: The quality and quantity of HEE studies should be improved in the region. There is a need to follow evidence-based methodological rigor to aid in informed health-care decision-making and efficient use of health-care resources.

KEYWORDS:

• Health economics
• economic evaluations
• health technology assessment Eastern Mediterranean Region
• Middle East
• health decision-making
• scoping review

Article highlights

• In the presence of a pandemic and the limited health-care resources, prioritization of health-care needs has become inevitable for health policy making. This should be based on health economic studies with high methodological rigor. Therefore, health economic evaluations should be implemented for all health technologies for evidence-based decisions.

• Our review shows that the level of health economic evidence from the Eastern Mediterranean Region countries of the World Health Organization is generally low and does not include all the health technologies. However, there are efforts made by some countries in the region to empower the role of Health Technology Assessment bodies, and this is discussed in our review as well.

• Also, our review shows that enhancing the human and technical capacities is the responsibility of both the public and private sectors in the region. This development will not occur without proper partnerships and collaborations between all the stakeholders. Educational partnerships with universities and countries which have good experience in the field of health economics are also essential in the region.

Declaration of interest

M.N.Sharkawy and I Dastan have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript.

Reviewers disclosure

Peer reviewers on this manuscript have no relevant financial relationships or otherwise to disclose.

Search strategies

PubMed/MEDLINE

Table

Cochrane Library

#1(Economic Evaluation):ti,ab,kw

#2(Cost Effectiveness):ti,ab,kw

#3(Cost Utility):ti,ab,kw

#4(Cost Benefit):ti,ab,kw

#5(Budget Impact):ti,ab,kw

#6(Cost of illness):ti,ab,kw

#7(Cost minimization):ti,ab,kw

#8(Costing):ti,ab,kw

#9(Costs):ti,ab,kw

#10#1 OR #2 OR #3 OR #4 OR #5 OR #6 OR #7 OR #8 OR #9

#11(East Mediterranean Region):ti,ab,kw

#12(Middle East and North Africa):ti,ab,kw

#13(Gulf Cooperation Council):ti,ab,kw

#14(Afghanistan):ti,ab,kw

#15(Bahrain):ti,ab,kw

#16(Djibouti):ti,ab,kw

#17(Egypt):ti,ab,kw

#18(Iran):ti,ab,kw

#19(Iraq):ti,ab,kw

#20(Jordan):ti,ab,kw

#21(Kuwait):ti,ab,kw

#22(Lebanon):ti,ab,kw

#23(Libya):ti,ab,kw

#24(Morocco):ti,ab,kw

#25(Oman):ti,ab,kw

#26(Pakistan):ti,ab,kw

#27(Qatar):ti,ab,kw

#28(Saudi Arabia):ti,ab,kw

#29(Somalia):ti,ab,kw

#30(Sudan):ti,ab,kw

#31(Syria):ti,ab,kw

#32(Tunisia):ti,ab,kw

#33(United Arab Emirates):ti,ab,kw

#34(Yemen):ti,ab,kw

#35#11 OR #12 OR #13 OR #14 OR #15 OR #16 OR #17 OR #18 OR #19 OR #20 OR #21 OR #22 OR #23 OR #24 OR #25 OR #26 OR #27 OR #28 OR #29 OR #30 OR #31 OR #32 OR #33 OR #34

#36#10 AND #35