Health technology assessment (HTA) is defined as a multidisciplinary field of policy research that provides evidence on the consequences of adopting and using health technologies. A ministry of health with jurisdiction over HTA should determine the influence of public law on all HTA-related activities and the rules that apply. Therefore, health decision-makers interested in HTA must learn to navigate the legal system, starting by situating it in the legal apparatus of the country. As a result, establishing a national HTA system requires designing a legal pathway towards HTA. However, a historic overview of HTA, in the context of policy documents of Ethiopia is not clearly reported. Therefore, this review is warranted to understand the historic overview of HTA in the context of health policy documents of Ethiopia.

A review of online policy documents was conducted in advanced Google Scholars and websites of the Ministry of Health (MoH) of Ethiopia. Some of the policy documents were also obtained through contacting experts at MoH. The review findings were organized into six categories.

Regulatory documents have emphasized the approval of new health technologies before selecting health technologies. Health Policy of Ethiopia and the Directive on Medical Equipment also clearly stated the importance of institutionalizing HTA and establishing HTA organizations. Additionally, the National Medical Device Policy clearly indicated the importance of establishing an HTA advisory team at MoH. Similarly, the Health Sector Transformation Plan II (HSTP II) stressed the need to build a national capacity to conduct HTA. Even though policy statements on HTA appear scattered across different policy documents, they were not put into a national HTA system.

It is important to refer to policy statements outlined in different policy documents when establishing a national HTA system in Ethiopia. Also, attention should be given to the development of policy documents related to HTA guidelines, strategic documents in HTA, and policy documents that can link HTA results to policy-making.