Resources Repository
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ArticlePublication 2022COVID-19 Response: The Need for Economic Evaluation
COVID-19-related policies are fraught with trade-offs. Many of these trade-offs involve dimensions that can be …
COVID-19-related policies are fraught with trade-offs. Many of these trade-offs involve dimensions that can be quantitatively weighed using economic evaluation, such as those between health and cost outcomes. Other types of dimensions, such as those involving equity or autonomy, can be harder to quantify but should be considered in a comprehensive health policy decision-making context nonetheless. The authors of this New England Journal of Medicine Perspectives article outline how methods of economic evaluation and decision…
Priority Setting/Ethics | Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Economics/Finance | Policy/Regulation | Benefit-Cost Analysis | Infectious Diseases | Health/Medicine | Global | North America -
ReportPublication 2018Estimating the Distributional Impact of Increasing Taxes on Tobacco Products in Armenia
Smoking is considered the leading risk factor for mortality among the Armenian population. The authors …
Smoking is considered the leading risk factor for mortality among the Armenian population. The authors conducted an extended cost-effectiveness analysis (ECEA) on increases in the excise tax on cigarettes in Armenia. Based on the World Health Organization recommendations, they analyzed the impact of a 75% increase of excise tax on the retail price of cigarettes. The ECEA found large health and financial benefits to the excise tax. It averted about 88,000 premature deaths, US$63 million of OOP…
Priority Setting/Ethics | Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Economics/Finance | Policy/Regulation | Chronic Disease/Risk | Health Systems | Business/Industry | Government/Law | Health/Medicine | Europe -
ArticlePublication 2017Household Energy Interventions in Haryana, India: An Extended CEA
In this paper, the authors examine the use of solid fuels as a primary energy …
In this paper, the authors examine the use of solid fuels as a primary energy source for cooking in India, which contributes to high rates of infant and child mortality as well as other diseases caused by household air pollution (HAP). To achieve the widespread adoption of one of three interventions – a mud chimney stove, a blower stove, and LPG use—the government needs to offer subsidies to households using solid fuels. While the reduction…
Priority Setting/Ethics | Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Economics/Finance | Policy/Regulation | Chronic Disease/Risk | Social Determinants | Environmental Health | Climate/Environment | Energy/Engineering | Science/Technology | Asia & Pacific -
ArticlePublication 2016Departures from Cost-Effectiveness Recommendations: Health System Constraints
Cost-effectiveness analysis assumes a single constraint, in the form of the budget constraint, whereas in reality …
Cost-effectiveness analysis assumes a single constraint, in the form of the budget constraint, whereas in reality decision makers may be faced with numerous other constraints. The objective of this article is to develop a typology of constraints that may act as barriers to implementation of cost-effectiveness recommendations. Six categories of constraints are considered: the design of the health system; costs of implementing change; system interactions between interventions; uncertainty in estimates of costs and benefits; weak governance;…
Priority Setting/Ethics | Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Economics/Finance | Policy/Regulation | Health Systems | Education/Labor | Government/Law | Health/Medicine | Sub-Saharan Africa | Middle East & North Africa | Latin America & Caribbean | Asia & Pacific -
ArticlePublication 2015Salt Reduction Policy in South Africa: Extended Cost-Effectiveness Analysis
This paper is an extended cost-effectiveness analysis to model the potential health and economic impacts of …
This paper is an extended cost-effectiveness analysis to model the potential health and economic impacts of a salt reduction policy in South Africa. The authors used surveys and epidemiologic studies to estimate reductions in CVD resulting from lower salt intake. They calculated the average out-of-pocket (OOP) cost of CVD care and estimated the reduction in OOP expenditures and government subsidies due to the policy. They also estimated the costs of policy implementation and financial risk protection (FRP) benefits. The…
Priority Setting/Ethics | Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Economics/Finance | Policy/Regulation | Costing Methods | Chronic Disease/Risk | Health Systems | Food/Agriculture | Health/Medicine | Sub-Saharan Africa -
ArticlePublication 2015Universal Public Finance of Tuberculosis Treatment in India: An Extended CEA
This paper evaluates the consequences of universal public finance (UPF) for tuberculosis treatment in India …
This paper evaluates the consequences of universal public finance (UPF) for tuberculosis treatment in India using extended cost-effectiveness analysis (ECEA). The authors evaluated the impact of UPF on health gains, financial consequences, and catastrophic health expenditures, and concluded that the health gains and insurance value of UPF would accrue mostly to the poor. However, reductions in out-of-pocket expenditures were found to be more uniformly distributed across income quintiles. A variant on the base case suggests…
Priority Setting/Ethics | Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Economics/Finance | Policy/Regulation | Costing Methods | Health Outcomes | Infectious Diseases | Social Determinants | Health Systems | Clinical Care | Health/Medicine | Asia & Pacific -
ArticlePublication 2022Equity Impact of Minimum Unit Pricing of Alcohol
South Africa experiences significant levels of alcohol-related harm. Recent research suggests minimum unit pricing (MUP) …
South Africa experiences significant levels of alcohol-related harm. Recent research suggests minimum unit pricing (MUP) for alcohol would be an effective policy, but high levels of income inequality raise concerns about equity impacts. This paper quantifies the equity impact of MUP on household health and finances in rich and poor drinkers in South Africa. Authors estimate MUP would reduce consumption more among the poorest than the richest drinkers. A MUP policy in South Africa has…
Priority Setting/Ethics | Economics/Finance | Policy/Regulation | Chronic Disease/Risk | Social Determinants | Health/Medicine | Sub-Saharan Africa -
ArticlePublication 2022Economic Evaluations of Health System Strengthening Activities
Health system strengthening (HSS) activities should accompany disease-targeting interventions in low/middle-income countries (LMICs). Economic evaluations …
Health system strengthening (HSS) activities should accompany disease-targeting interventions in low/middle-income countries (LMICs). Economic evaluations provide information on how these types of investment might best be balanced but can be challenging. This paper conducted a systematic review to evaluate how researchers address these economic evaluation challenges. The authors searches produced 1978 studies, out of which they included 36. Most studies used data from prospective trials and calculated cost-effectiveness directly from these trial inputs, rather than…
Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Economics/Finance | Policy/Regulation | Health Systems | Health/Medicine | Global -
ArticlePublication 2022Vaccinations versus Lockdowns to Prevent COVID-19 Mortality
This analysis estimated the costs associated with preventing Covid-19 deaths by vaccinations versus lockdowns. Publicly …
This analysis estimated the costs associated with preventing Covid-19 deaths by vaccinations versus lockdowns. Publicly available datasets from the Israeli Ministry of Health were used to model the parameters of the pandemic in Israel. The Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker was used for quantitative data on government policies. Data on the Israeli economy were taken from the Central Bureau of Statistics. The models demonstrate that the first lockdown prevented 1022 COVID-19 deaths at the cost…
Decision Theory | Economics/Finance | Policy/Regulation | Costing Methods | Health Outcomes | State-Transition | Decision Analysis | Infectious Diseases | Government/Law | Health/Medicine | Middle East & North Africa