Health Technology Assessments and the Right to Health

When the cost of medicines place them beyond reach for the patients who need them, rationing or priority-setting is often treated as the only way forward. But is this assumption always justified? This book looks closely at Health Technology Assessment (HTA), a quiet multidisciplinary decision-making engine of healthcare systems, and asks whether the international right to health can do more than simply legitimise scarcity through a fair procedure. Drawing on international law, original doctrinal analysis, and a detailed case study, it shows how HTA resource allocation is inseparable from resource mobilisation. This book argues that States are legally obliged not only to prioritise fairly through an accountable process, but also to intervene in prices and market dynamics, and that integrating pricing and regulatory measures can transform HTA into a tool for substantive equality, market accountability, and genuine efforts for access to health.