Monitoring and Evaluating Public Health Interventions

Abstract

Health Technology Assessment (HTA) has become the preferred approach that health systems use for evaluating and monitoring health technologies. Nevertheless, it has mainly focused on pharmaceuticals and medical equipment, while HTAs on public health interventions (PHIs) are rarely performed. The limitations of the traditional methods to evaluate PHIs with a national scope could be one of the reasons for the lack of studies. This situation suggests the need to propose new approaches for evaluating this type of technology. The chapter proposes the use of intervention analysis on time series, using the Box and Tiao approach, as a method for HTA on PHI. Additionally, to illustrate the advantages of the method, a case study is presented in which it is used to assess the impact that the establishment of the National Information System on Breast Cancer, in June 2009, has had on the mortality rates in the five regions of Brazil.