The VIII Meeting of the Health Technology Assessment Network of the Americas (RedETSA) took place on October 5, 6 and 7, 2016 in the city of San Salvador, El Salvador. Although it was estimated that about 100 participants would attend the meeting, there were more than 200 participants coming from 28 institutions from 14 countries in the region. The meeting allowed to introduce the relevant actors of the health system of El Salvador into the key concepts of health technology assessment (HTA); Discuss and develop relevant topics and share experiences between RedETSA members and invited experts; Share the advances and challenges of the members of the Network and define a work plan for 2017. The meeting was divided into three different sections over three days: an introductory session, the Redetsa meeting in conjunction with the National HTA Forum Of El Salvador and the Regional Meeting of HTAi and a closed meeting for the RedETSA member countries. 
Day 1 – Introductory Session

• The first section was the introductory session in which the topics developed were on the key concepts of health technology assessment, the importance of HTA for universal health coverage. In the afternoon of the first day topics such as economic evaluation and its importance for decision-making and capacity mapping were discussed.

Day 1 and 2 – Meeting of RedETSA, National Forum of HTA in El Salvador, HTAi

• The next section included the national HTA forum in El Salvador in addition to the HTAi regional meeting. Topics discussed during this session, including others, were progress in the institutionalization of HTA in the Americas, decisions on high-cost drugs, drug prosecution and cases of success in the use of HTA.

Day3 – Closed Meeting

• The last section of the event was a closed meeting for RedETSA members. It was attended by 28 participants who represented 23 institutions. The countries represented were Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Peru and Uruguay. Also participated the Andalusian School of Public Health, of Spain. The session focused on the discussion of the activities carried out in 2016 and the main achievements of the countries during the year. Topics also included the website update, exchange program and priorities for 2017.

Each presentation and corresponding power points are available, in Spanish, at http://www.salud.gob.sv/foroets-salud-sv/ or on our web page of RedETSA
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