Resources Repository
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ArticlePublication 2022Cost-Effectiveness & Value-of-Information Analysis Using Machine Learning-Based Metamodeling: A Case of Hepatitis C Treatment
This study compares machine learning (ML)-based metamodels with conventional metamodeling approaches in replicating the outcomes …
This study compares machine learning (ML)-based metamodels with conventional metamodeling approaches in replicating the outcomes of a complex simulation model of hepatitis C virus (HCV) natural history. Three ML-based metamodels (random forest, support vector regression, and artificial neural networks) and a linear regression-based metamodel were developed from the simulation model's 40 input parameters. Performance evaluation included root mean squared error (RMSE) and Pearson's R2 on normalized data. ML-based metamodels generally outperformed linear regression, with random…
Mathematical Models | Health/Medicine | Infectious Diseases | Chronic Disease/Risk -
ArticlePublication 2022Distributional Effects of Tobacco Tax Increases across Mexico: An ECEA
This study examines the distributional impacts of a one-peso tobacco tax increase in Mexico, focusing …
This study examines the distributional impacts of a one-peso tobacco tax increase in Mexico, focusing on health, poverty, and financial outcomes at the subnational level. Utilizing an extended cost-effectiveness analysis, the research estimates various metrics such as life-years gained, smoking attributable deaths averted, treatment costs averted, and financial impacts by income group across five regions. Findings reveal that the tax increase would lead to significant benefits, including approximately 1.5 million smokers quitting across the regions,…
Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Health/Medicine | Policy/Regulation | Latin America & Caribbean -
ArticlePublication 2022Trauma Care in Public and Private Hospitals in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: Cross-Sectional Observational Study
This study examines the financial risks associated with seeking trauma care for road traffic injuries …
This study examines the financial risks associated with seeking trauma care for road traffic injuries in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Conducting a cross-sectional survey from December 2018 to February 2019 in three public and one private hospital, the research analyzes out-of-pocket (OOP) expenditures related to trauma care. Data from 452 trauma cases are collected, encompassing both medical and non-medical costs. Catastrophic health expenditures, defined as OOP health expenditures exceeding 10% of total household expenditures, are assessed,…
Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Health/Medicine | Injuries/Accidents | Sub-Saharan Africa -
ArticlePublication 2021Rational Policymaking during a Pandemic
Policymaking during a pandemic can be extremely challenging. As COVID-19 is a new disease and …
Policymaking during a pandemic can be extremely challenging. As COVID-19 is a new disease and its global impacts are unprecedented, decisions are taken in a highly uncertain, complex, and rapidly changing environment. In such a context, in which human lives and the economy are at stake, the authors argue that using ideas and constructs from modern decision theory, even informally, will make policymaking a more responsible and transparent process.
Decision Theory | Health/Medicine | Priority Setting/Ethics | Infectious Diseases | Policy/Regulation | Government/Law | Science/Technology | Global -
ArticlePublication 2020Infectious Disease Pandemic Planning and Response: Incorporating Decision Analysis
During a pandemic, decisions must be made under rapidly changing, uncertain conditions. Despite advances in …
During a pandemic, decisions must be made under rapidly changing, uncertain conditions. Despite advances in analytical methods for gaining early situational awareness (i.e., of a disease’s transmissibility and severity) and for predicting the likely effectiveness of interventions, a major gap exists globally in terms of integrating this information in policy documents. The authors argue that mathematical and statistical models are important tools for pandemic planning and response. Once an outbreak of pandemic potential has been…
Mathematical Models | Health/Medicine | Decision Analysis | Health Systems | Government/Law | Global -
ArticlePublication 2020Testing for SARS-CoV-2 Antibodies
Antibody testing can determine previous exposure to SARS-CoV-2 virus. Recently, the UK government has made …
Antibody testing can determine previous exposure to SARS-CoV-2 virus. Recently, the UK government has made antibody testing available to anyone wanting it, even if there is no clinical indication. The purpose of this article is to provide guidance for when to consider antibody testing in individuals with and without symptoms suggestive of current or past SARS-CoV-2 infection. Key points made by the authors include: (1) antibody testing is likely to be most useful 2 weeks…
Probability/Bayes | Health/Medicine | Test Performance | Technology Assessment | Infectious Diseases | Clinical Care -
ArticlePublication 2020Burden of Household OOP Health Expenditures
This article, published in Health Policy and Planning, estimates the incidence of catastrophic and impoverishing …
This article, published in Health Policy and Planning, estimates the incidence of catastrophic and impoverishing health expenditures using data from the 2015/16 Ethiopian household consumption and expenditure and welfare monitoring surveys. The authors compute the incidence of catastrophic health expenditures (CHE) at 10% and 25% thresholds of total household consumption and 40% threshold of household capacity to pay. Impoverishing health expenditures (IHE) are calculated using Ethiopia's national poverty line (ETB 7184 per adult per year).…
Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Health/Medicine | Health Systems | Sub-Saharan Africa -
ArticlePublication 2020Economic Evaluation of HBV Birth Dose Vaccination
This article, published in Cost Effectiveness and Resource Allocation, examines the cost-effectiveness of a birth …
This article, published in Cost Effectiveness and Resource Allocation, examines the cost-effectiveness of a birth dose of HBV vaccine in a medical setting in Ethiopia. The authors construct a decision analytic model with a Markov process to estimate the costs and effects of a birth dose of HBV vaccine, compared with current practices in Ethiopia. Based on the cost-effectiveness findings, introducing a birth dose of HBV vaccine in Ethiopia would likely be highly cost-effective. Such…
Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Health/Medicine | Infectious Diseases | Health Systems | Sub-Saharan Africa -
ArticlePublication 2020Bayes' Theorem, COVID-19, and Screening Tests
This article reviews the implications of increased testing for COVID-19 using reverse transcriptase polymerase chain …
This article reviews the implications of increased testing for COVID-19 using reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (rRT-PCR) through the application of Bayes’ Theorem for three hypothetical, stylized case scenarios. The scenarios involve three patients with a low, moderate, and high pre-test probability of COVID-19 infection. The category of low probability would include "asymptomatic individuals in a presumed low prevalence environment" and might vary from 10 to 20%. The category of moderate probability would include "individuals…
Probability/Bayes | Health/Medicine | Test Performance | Infectious Diseases | Clinical Care