NICE International supported Dr Miqdad Asaria, Research Fellow at the Centre for Health Economics, University of York to travel to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from 21-27 November 2015.

Dr Asaria conducted a series of meetings with colleagues in Ethiopia, including from the Ethiopian Public Health Institute (EPHI), Overseas Development Institute, the Clinton Health Access Initiative, and other senior academics. In addition, Dr Asaria presented two 90-minute sessions on universal health care and the roles of economic evaluation and health inequality analysis at a workshop hosted by EPHI and the EVIDENT network, which involved policy makers from Ethiopia and the region. The visit was part of a long-term engagement strategy with academics and policy makers in Ethiopia involving NICE International partners and will contribute to on-going work in the country.

Associate director of NICE International Francoise Cluzeau undertook a scoping visit to Ethiopia in conjunction with the Institute of Tropical Medicine (Antwerp) and EVIDENT, an extensive network of North-South partners that aims to enhance evidence-informed decision-making and policy driven research in both health and nutrition in response to local priority concerns.

The visit included meetings with the State Minister of Health and Ministry of Health Senior Adviser, colleagues from the Ethiopian Public Health Institute (EPHI), Addis Ababa university and the Ethiopian Health Insurance Agency.

Discussions highlighted outlined areas of potential involvement for NICE International/iDSI to help Ethiopia in its efforts on achieving Universal Health Coverage through priority setting activities with a focus on health economics training to help strengthen technical capacity at the Ministry of health and its agencies.