The Value of Explicit, Deliberative, and Context-Specified Ethics Analysis for Health Technology Assessment: Evidence From a Novel Approach Piloted in South Africa

•Findings from the South African Values and Ethics for Universal Health Coverage Project demonstrate the potential value of using a context-specified ethics framework to structure health technology assessment analysis and deliberative appraisals, with perceived contributions to improving the quality, comprehensiveness, and transparency of assessments, and benefits to those involved in the priority-setting process.•To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time in South Africa that an ethics framework has been co-developed with stakeholders and piloted through simulated health technology assessment appraisal exercises and one of the few examples in the health priority-setting literature of an approach for structured deliberation that explicitly incorporates ethics considerations and moral reasoning.