Repurposing polyamines to prevent life-threatening arrhythmias in Short QT Syndrome type 3.

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region comprises, in general, twenty countries extending from Morocco to Iran (there is no standardized definition and groupings may vary), accounting for almost 6 percent of the world’s population. Health systems across MENA face complex challenges, including rising healthcare costs and an increasing burden of chronic diseases combined with increasing expectations from the population. Rapid demographic and epidemiological transitions have amplified needs for effective, evidence-based decision making to ensure resource efficiency and equity, especially in consideration of the increasing demand for costly innovative technologies (). As a result, there is a growing recognition of the importance of health technology assessment (HTA) in the MENA region as a critical tool for evidence-based decision making in health care (), particularly in contexts where health systems face increasing cost pressures, competing priorities, and the need to optimize the allocation of limited resources (), although many countries still rely on unstructured or evaluation processes (). As part of an ongoing, member-led effort to strengthen HTA practice across MENA (), Health Technology Assessment international (HTAi) supported a Policy Dialogue hosted in Tunis, Tunisia, on 24 September 2025, alongside its MENA Regional Meeting (). The Dialogue was co-developed with local HTAi members and regional stakeholders to ensure that discussions, priorities, and proposed actions were addressing gaps in HTA implementation, grounded in local realities, and led by regional expertise. The present manuscript reports on an HTAi-led Policy Dialogue in the MENA region, synthesizing participants’ discussions and survey findings to identify common challenges, priority areas, and opportunities to strengthen HTA systems at national and regional levels. HTAi Policy Dialogues are intended to underscore the significance of collaboration and co-creation among the stakeholders of various countries, providing a “safe space” that encourages participants to discuss and subsequently collaborate to create sustainable HTA frameworks that can be customized to the specific needs of their respective countries (). HTAi Policy Dialogues require participants to engage openly and constructively, expressing views and sharing ideas independently of their formal institutional roles or affiliations. This approach aims to foster candid exchange, mutual understanding, and collaborative exploration of shared challenges and solutions to ensure that HTA is a fully functional and integral component of their healthcare decision making. The HTAi Policy Dialogue for MENA began with a structured, in-person meeting held alongside the HTAi MENA Regional Meeting in Tunis, Tunisia. Twenty participants from twelve countries (ten MENA countries plus Australia and South Africa) took part. The meeting followed a facilitated roundtable format, combining plenary discussion and guided exchanges to identify shared challenges in HTA development, priority areas for system strengthening, and expectations for regional and international collaboration. Discussions were informed by short introductory inputs and were documented through moderator notes to support subsequent analysis.