5th Annual BCEPS International Symposium
BCEPS convened the 5th annual BCEPS International Symposium at Solstrand Hotel & Bad near Bergen this June, with over 90 participants from more than 15 countries.
By: Jana Wilbricht
Published:
For the fifth year in a row, BCEPS convened many of our global collaborators and partners in Bergen, Norway. This year, over 90 participants from more than 15 countries attended our largest annual event.
Under the theme "Priority Setting for Universal Health Care at a Crossroads: Equity, Efficiency, and Accountability", participants spent 3 days discussing topics such as bridging Universal Health Coverage ideals and real-world constraints, AI in medicine, the FairChoices: DCP Analytics tool, priority setting in practice, current challenges in Norwegian priority setting, the equity impact and financial risk protection of health interventions, health systems strengthening and resilience, ethical priority setting, and more.
The BCEPS Early Career Research Hub also hosted two parallel sessions where early career researchers presented their work to receive feedback from senior scholars in attendance.
On the first day, the conference featured three plenary sessions. The opening session addressed “Universal Health Coverage (UHC) at a Crossroads: Bridging Universal Health Coverage Ideals and Real-World Constraints”. For the second plenary session, Zeke Emmanuel presented “AI in Medicine: Machine over Human.” The final plenary session covered the “Application of Inequality Aversion for Benefit Packages in FairChoices: DCP Analytics tool.”
On the second day, the conference included two plenary sessions and four parallel sessions.The opening plenary session, “Explicit Priority Setting in Practice: Institutionalizing Evidence-Informed and Value-Based Priority Setting for Universal Health Coverage,” presented viewpoints from different countries BCEPS leads projects in. The second plenary session focused on Norway under the title “Current Challenges in Norwegian Priority Setting.” The three parallel sessions featured the presentations of BCEPS' early-career researchers, while the final parallel session presented efforts related to “Research, Education and Capacity Strengthening.”
On the final day of the conference, four plenary sessions were held. The opening plenary session was “Health Systems Strengthening and Resilience”, followed by a fireside chat discussing the question “Ethical Priority Setting: Where Should Technocratic Analysis End and Societal Value Judgements Take Over?” The third and final plenary session discussed the upcoming publication Volume 4 of the Disease Control Priorities 4th Edition (DCP-4) under the title “Health Sector Priorities – New Approaches in DCP-4, Volume 4.”
BCEPS would like to thank everyone who attended and contributed to our annual International Symposium this year, making our 5th anniversary edition such a success!