R-HTA in LMICs

The R for HTA in LMICs chapter is the LMIC-focused chapter of R-HTA consortium that aims to introduce and showcase the strengths of R specifically to LMIC analysts and health care institutions.

Events

In the first quarter of every year, the chapter hosts a presentation-based workshop where LMIC university students and members of partnership organisations present their R related health economics work. In two subsequent quarters, the chapter hosts introductory and intermediate plus advanced decision modelling tutorials, applied within an LMIC context.

The workshop and all tutorials are open to analysts from all countries. However, for the annual workshop, analysts are encouraged to present LMIC-centric material.

Click here for more details on upcoming events

Introductory Tutorial

The chapter is currently developing the curriculum for the first introductory tutorial of 2023! Due to time constraints, the chapter will not be hosting a workshop. Please keep a look out on the chapter’s social media platforms for further updates (see below).

Note: for further details, please visit the R-HTA in LMICs website and follow the links to the chapter’s social media platforms.

Schedule and tickets

  • Date: End of April or early May
  • Time: TBA
  • Tickets: TBA

Follow the chapter on eventbrite to keep up-to-date with their latest tutorials!

Why an LMIC chapter?

Microsoft Excel and other software such as TreeAge remain popular software for HTA modelling, especially in LMICs.

  • Many standard software used for HTA and health economics require costly subscriptions
  • R is a free, open source software - an obvious benefit in LMICs

Because LMICs are moving towards the principles of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) there will be an increased demand for complex HTA methodology, such as in oncology and other rare diseases.

  • This will make the need for more efficient and comprehensive software for HTA within LMICs gradually more necessary

There are limited in-depth tutorials on R focused for LMIC HTA analysts.

  • There is thus a need to provide accessible workshops that showcase the strengths of R while also providing online coding resources for LMIC analysts.

The aim of the LMIC chapter is to thus bridge the gap in the use of R software among HTA analysts in LMICs. The chapter hosts both presentation-focused and tutorial-focused R workshops. For example, in introductory tutorial workshops, participants are introduced to the basics of R and several open-source HTA R packages; more advanced topics include developing R-HTA models in interactive formats, using Shiny (click here for details).

All attendees are provided with the resources and code used in every workshop, which can be found on the chapter’s Github.

Contact

For further details on the LMIC chapter, please see their website here. Otherwise, for direct

Why R?

R scales efficiently

  • This is especially true when an HTA model becomes increasingly complex compared to other commonly used software (read more here)

R has an established user-base

  • There are several health economics packages which make coding in R more user-friendly: BCEA, hesim, heemod, and dampack

R ensures reproducibility

  • Models can easily and safely be hosted and shared via services such as Github
  • Using ‘version control’, updates do not ‘break’ models
  • With RMarkdown and Shiny, analysts can deliver transparent, reproducible reports and interactive models

The Team