International Health Economics Association Congress in Bali highlights innovative research and global collaborations
The 2025 International Health Economics Association (IHEA) World Congress held in Bali marked a significant milestone for the discipline, showcasing a diverse array of cutting-edge research and fostering robust international collaboration. The event, convened from July 19 to 23, gathered health economists, policy experts, and early career researchers from across the globe, offering a dynamic forum for advancing health economics research and its application to universal health coverage and policy-making.
The Deakin Health Economics (DHE) group commanded a strong presence with 15 researchers and 5 PhD students delivering 19 presentations. Their active engagement, including session moderation and high-profile contributions, notably elevated DHE’s research profile within the global health economics community. The opening plenary, featuring Indonesia’s Minister of Health, delivered critical insights into strategies for strengthening Universal Health Coverage (UHC), underscoring the congress's policy relevance. Sessions extended beyond traditional cost-utility analysis, integrating new perspectives on productivity, environmental impacts, and discrete choice experiments, broadening methodological horizons. These developments facilitated knowledge exchange and laid the groundwork for future collaborations, reflecting the congress’s role as a vital catalyst for innovation and impact dissemination in health economics.
The congress’s format also actively supported networking and professional development. Special Interest Groups (SIGs) provided tailored platforms for researchers with focused interests—ranging from digital health technology economics to early career mentorship—strengthening community bonds. Pre-congress workshops enhanced skill-building for attendees, while the mentoring sessions responded directly to the needs of early career researchers, fostering the next generation of experts. The conference also benefited from an excellent venue and local hospitality, contributing to a welcoming atmosphere that blended rigorous academic engagement with cultural enrichment.
However, the event’s breadth of content also posed challenges. Attendees often found the packed parallel sessions difficult to navigate, with many wishing for extended discussions to fully unpack complex ideas. This tension between rich content and time constraints has become a recurring theme in major conferences that strive to balance depth with inclusivity.
Beyond DHE’s contributions, the congress featured important research presentations with direct policy implications. Dr Megumi Rosenberg from the WHO Kobe Centre highlighted persistent financial hardships among older Japanese households, despite the country's advanced universal health insurance system. Using nearly two decades of data, her research linked healthcare costs with financial vulnerability among retirees under 70, emphasizing the nuanced challenges in achieving equitable financial protection. This work aligns with WHO’s broader commitment to strengthening health financing systems globally to improve equity and coverage, offering actionable insights for Japan and countries facing similar demographic transitions.
The congress also provided a platform for other global institutions to share health financing evidence. For instance, researchers from the Ifakara Health Institute in Tanzania presented findings on provider payment mechanisms, contributing to international discussions on strategic purchasing and sustainable health financing reforms in African contexts. Their participation underscored the congress’s essential role in amplifying diverse voices and contexts—from middle-income to low-income countries—within the health economics discourse.
The IHEA Congress continues to serve as a key biennial event that not only advances methodological innovation but also bridges research with real-world policy applications. Its breadth ranges from empirical studies on financial protection and health insurance reforms to theoretical frameworks exploring health system efficiency and fairness. Cutting-edge research emerging from the academic spectrum, including inverse behavioural optimization models and inclusive innovation principles in healthcare AI, suggests that health economics is evolving towards more integrated, adaptive, and equitable frameworks. These developments highlight a growing recognition that economic interventions must balance efficiency with ethical fairness and inclusivity to generate sustainable health outcomes and system resilience.
Looking ahead, with future events planned—such as the Rome-based World Congress on Health Economics focusing on global economic impacts of health policy—there is clear momentum towards expanding the profession’s influence. The 2025 Bali congress demonstrated how international forums can successfully blend rigorous scholarship, practical policy insights, and community-building to strengthen health economics as a driver of social good worldwide.