The College of Pharmacy at the University of Baghdad organized a workshop on the fundamentals of economic studies for pharmaceuticals, presented by Assistant Professor Dr. Ali Aziz Ali, a faculty member at the College of Pharmacy / University of Baghdad and a consultant at the Technical Affairs Directorate, Department of Needs Assessment, Division of Health Technology Studies.
This workshop falls within the framework of enhancing the efficiency of pharmaceutical spending pursued by the Ministry of Health and selecting the most effective and safest medications. The basic principles of these studies and their importance in supporting the Ministry of Health’s decisions regarding the inclusion of medications in the comprehensive list were discussed.
The workshop addressed several topics, including types of economic studies for pharmaceuticals, types of costs in these economic studies, the importance of measuring quality of life, in addition to the requirements for preparing a high-quality economic study.
The lecturer focused on the requirements for preparing an economic study and the possible sources to rely on, especially for newly appointed pharmacists in the division, in order to prepare them to produce high-quality studies. He emphasized that the comparison between a newly proposed medication for inclusion in the comprehensive list and an older, approved and circulated medication should be objective, taking into account the effectiveness and safety of the drugs—not just the purchase price—since new medications are often more expensive than older ones but generally more effective, and thus save the Ministry money in the long term.
The workshop concluded by emphasizing the importance of applying global scientific theories in practical settings and promoting a culture of economic evaluation in pharmaceutical policies.
This workshop fulfills two Sustainable Development Goals: Goal 3, which calls for ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being for all at all ages, and Goal 4, Quality Education.
