Under the central motto “NextGen Evidence: Diversifying and Advancing Health Technology Assessment (HTA) to Meet Global Demands” and with the participation of more than 800 delegates from some 80 countries. The HTAi Annual Congress began in Buenos Aires (Health Technology Assessment international) —HTAi 2025—, the leading global meeting bringing together stakeholders from various sectors interested in health technology assessment (industry, researchers, agencies, regulators, healthcare professionals, etc.), with the IECS as the local support organization.
Following welcoming remarks by George Valiotis, Executive Director of HTAi, Dr. Mario Lugones, Minister of Health of Argentina, gave a brief opening address. “It is a true honor to welcome you to Buenos Aires, to a meeting that represents a strategic space to reflect on the present and future of health technology assessment globally,” he said. Before incorporating a new technology, “we have to discuss what value it brings, what results it offers, and whether it truly meets people's needs. Financial sustainability is not an obstacle to the right to health. It is a condition of possibility,” Lugones asserted.
HTAi President Dr. Rabia Sucu also shared her reflections. She lamented the “tangible and deeply concerning impact” of funding cuts for global health initiatives, which widen inequities and leave vulnerable populations even more exposed to preventable diseases and premature death. “As health professionals, we are uniquely positioned to articulate the true value of health interventions and promote sustainable, high-impact investments. Your work helps ensure that every dollar invested in health technologies delivers maximum benefits and goes where it is most needed,” she told participants.
Dr. Andrés Pichon Riviere, Director General of the IECS, welcomed delegates on behalf of the congress's international scientific committee. “I believe we are living in exceptional times, but not as many of us expected. After a global pandemic that revealed the power of science and public health, we might have hoped for stronger health systems and a renewed sense of unity around public health, vaccines, science, and equity. However, we see how scientific truths can be baselessly challenged, how health budgets are slashed, and how resources for international collaboration are drastically reduced,” he said.
In this context, the world needs health technology assessments more than ever, although perhaps not the ones we've known, but rather others that are more adaptive, inclusive, responsive to future challenges, and have greater impact, said Dr. Pichon Riviere. He concluded: "In a world that feels fragmented, our work can help build bridges. Evidence can be a tool for dialogue and for designing policies that reflect both science and social values."
The opening session of the conference closed with a lecture by Bogi Eliasen, executive director of the Movement Health Foundation and former Director of Health at The Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies in Copenhagen, Denmark, who was introduced as a “true futurist of health systems.” Eliasen pointed out that the current health crisis is not due to a lack of money, personnel, or technology, but rather a lack of mindset. Instead of concentrating resources on the acutely ill, he encouraged earlier intervention to reduce the burden of chronic non-communicable diseases and the cascade of associated comorbidities. He then asked the audience: Is the most important thing to build the best health system in the world or to have the healthiest population? “When I ask ministers about this, they always answer, of course, that they are looking for the healthiest population. Then I ask them about their decisions of the last six months: how many were for the population and not for the latter? I'm still waiting for the first answer,” he emphasized.
“What if half of the health budget was allocated to primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention, and then the remaining 50% was reserved for cure? That's one of the mindsets we promote. We probably already have 90% of the knowledge and technology needed to make that change. So it's not just about inventing new things, but about analyzing what already exists and applying what we know works,” Eliasen said.
The HTAi 2025 Congress, which will take place in Buenos Aires until Wednesday, June 18, is intended to be a key space for strengthening evidence-based policymaking and decision-making. It also seeks to foster the growth of the global Health Technology Assessment (HTA) community by offering an international forum for the exchange of knowledge, methodologies, and experiences.