Priority setting in public health

The key drivers of population health lie outside the health sector. However, decision makers outside the health sector are primarily interested in delivering sector specific outputs other than health. Economic approaches to priority setting can help align sectors to consider the intersectoral impacts of decisions within an integrated societal framework. First, economic evaluation can explicitly identify and measure all impacts – including health – and value them as inputs into overall social welfare. Second, priority setting tools such as program budgeting marginal analysis and multi-criteria decision analysis can then be used to help translate evidence into policy, where the full consequences of decisions are considered and the overall aim is to improve social welfare.