Conference Tracks

Health Technology Assessment (HTA) is becoming pivotal to evidence-informed healthcare decision-making, particularly in resource-constrained situations where efficient allocation of limited resources is crucial. As India expands its institutional HTA framework, there is a growing need for rigorous economic evaluation that integrates cost-effectiveness, affordability, equity, and health system responsiveness. This track provides a platform to discuss methodological advances, policy applications, and real-world experiences that support sustainable and equitable healthcare system.

Sub-themes:

• Economic Evaluation of Health Technologies (Cost-effectiveness, cost-utility, and budget impact analysis)
• HTA for Policy, Pricing, and Resource Allocation (HTA framework, pharmaceutical pricing, reimbursement, and priority setting)
• Health System Responsiveness, Equity, and Innovation in HTA (Distributional cost-effectiveness analysis, equity considerations, patient-centred care, methodological innovations, and industry perspectives)

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) are reshaping healthcare through predictive analytics, clinical decision support, digital innovation, and more efficient use of health resources. This track invites interdisciplinary research on the development, implementation, and evaluation of data-driven solutions that improve healthcare delivery, strengthen public health systems, and contribute to sustainable development.

Sub-themes:

• Public Health Analytics, Epidemiology, Disease Surveillance and prediction
• Digital Health, Health Informatics, and Remote Care
• Maternal, Child, and Population Health Applications
• Industry Innovation, Technology Adoption, and Healthcare Transformation

Healthcare financing is central to achieving equitable, accessible, and sustainable healthcare systems, particularly in emerging economies facing rising healthcare costs and expanding insurance coverage. Amid rising healthcare costs, demographic transitions, and evolving insurance systems, this track provides a platform for research on innovative and coping strategies on healthcare financing mechanisms, health insurance, economic evaluation, and sustainable policy interventions. It encourages interdisciplinary contributions that inform evidence-based healthcare financing and strengthen resilient health systems.

Sub-themes:

• Healthcare Financing Systems and Universal Health Coverage
• Health Insurance and Financial Risk Protection
• Digital Innovation, Sustainable Financing and Public Policy

Environmental change is reshaping health risks across the globe, especially air pollution and heat stress, to water insecurity and food system disruptions. These hazards impose rising economic costs on households, labor productivity, and healthcare systems, with informal and vulnerable groups bearing the heaviest burden. This track brings together evidence on the health-economy linkages of climate and environment, and evaluates adaptation strategies, financing models, and policy tools. We invite work that quantifies risks, values co-benefits, and designs scalable, equitable interventions at the intersection of environment and health.

Sub-themes:

• Air Quality, Energy, and Health
• Urbanization, Heat, Water Crises, and Occupational Risks
• Food Systems and Planetary Health
• Financing Resilience and Adaptation

The track addresses health policy formulation, implementation, and reform through critical lenses. This interrogates whose voices are heard, whose knowledge is valued, and how governance structures can be reimagined to promote accountability, transparency, and participatory democracy in health systems. This also examines the political, institutional, and social dimensions of health system governance, emphasizing how power relations shape policy processes and health outcomes in uncertain times. It explores mechanisms through which communities, civil society, and marginalized populations can exercise agency in health decision-making, challenging top-down governance models that exclude affected populations from shaping their health futures.

Sub-themes:

• Participatory Governance, Community Accountability, and Health Democracy
• Causal Inference and Impact Evaluation in Health Policy
• Economic Evaluation of Public Health Programs and Incentive Schemes
• Health Systems Research: Evidence Synthesis and Policy Translation

This track examines pharmaceutical pricing, regulation, market competition, and the affordability of medicines. It highlights generics, biosimilars, supply-chain efficiency, traditional medicine, healthcare trade, and policy initiatives aimed at improving access to essential drugs.

Sub-themes:

• Pharmacoeconomics - Pharmaceutical Pricing, Affordability, and Access Strategies
• Generic and Biosimilar Market Development
• Medicine Supply Chain Innovation and Quality Assurance
• Pharmaceutical R&D for Neglected Diseases

This track explores innovative approaches to improve efficiency, productivity, quality, and value of healthcare delivery given technological advancements. It focuses on performance measurement, evidence-based financing, and practical solutions for hospitals and primary healthcare systems.

Sub-themes:

• Hospital and Primary Care Performance Indicators
• Quality of Care Measurement and Improvement Science
• Health-System Efficiency, Healthcare Access, and Resource Optimization

The modern world is under stress from emerging and persistent behavioral health issues. In spite of modern technologies' progress, there has been a failure to transform the mental health system. This year, AHEAD'26 conference aims to bring together a session and a dialogue on the efficacy of 'technology, health behaviour and mental health'. In detail, this session invited articles on innovation, challenges, opportunities, evidence, review, and traditional and novel assessment to improve mental well-being.

Sub-themes:

• Behavioural Health Economics and Service Delivery Models
• Digital Behavioural Health Interventions and Evidence-Based Research
• Technology-Enabled Behavioral Health and Psychosocial Support
• Cognitive Health

This track examines how social, economic, and structural determinants shape health outcomes in an era of global uncertainty, emphasizing pathways toward equitable and inclusive health development. It explores how technology and health interventions can address or exacerbate existing inequities, questioning whose needs are prioritized in development agendas. The track centers community agency, diverse knowledge systems, and the voices of marginalized populations in building resilient health futures that leave no one behind.

Sub-themes:

• Health Disparities, Inequality Measurement, and Distributional Impact Analysis
• Urban-Rural Health Divides and Geographic Equity in Service Delivery
• Indigenous Health Systems, Traditional Medicine
• Universal Design, Accessibility, and Inclusive Health Technology Innovation
• Women and Child Health

This track showcases research by our IITR alumni working at the intersection of technology and development economics. It provides a platform for interdisciplinary perspectives examining how technological innovation shapes economic development, inequality, labor markets, education, NCDs, nutrition, and structural transformation in diverse contexts. The track fosters intellectual exchange among alumni researchers contributing to evidence-based development policy and practice globally.