Seville, Spain – July 2, 2025. 

The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and the Ministry of Health of the Kingdom of Spain They signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the aim of strengthening Health Technology Assessment (HTA) and promoting evidence-based health decisions.

The agreement was signed by Dr. Jarbas Barbosa, Director of PAHO, and the Minister of Health of Spain, Mónica García, within the framework of the IV International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4), and formalizes the collaboration between the Health Technology Assessment Network of the Americas (RedETSA) and the Spanish Network of Agencies for the Assessment of Health Technologies and Services of the National Health System (RedETS).

Since 2022, both networks have worked together on key initiatives for the technical development of the HTA, with the support of the Department of Innovation, Access to Medicines and Health Technologies (IMT) from PAHO. This collaboration has generated important advances, including:

• Mutual recognition and participation in annual meetings of both networks.
• Incorporation of 350 RedETS reports into the Regional HTA Database for the Americas (BRISA), which now has more than 4,200 reports.
• External review of the RedETSA report adaptation tool by RedETS experts.
• Organization of joint activities, such as the digital health webinar in May 2024.
• Participation of 31 representatives from 16 countries in the region in the international HTAi congress, with financial support from Spain.

As part of this alliance, a technical exchange between the two networks is being organized, which will take place in Spain in March 2026.

The Memorandum of Understanding consolidates the commitment to cooperation between RedETSA and RedETS, with a view to strengthening the equity, sustainability, and quality of health systems. Areas of collaboration include:

• Development of joint webinars.
• Reciprocal participation in annual events.
• Preparation of training materials and technical documents.
• Exchange and publication of reports in the BRISA database.
• Mutual support in external reviews.
• Exchange of professionals and interns.
• Joint training through the PAHO Virtual Campus.

This agreement represents a significant step toward more informed, efficient, and people-centered health systems, reaffirming the commitment of PAHO and its partners to evidence-based universal health.