Resources Repository
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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 | Government/Law | Decision Analysis | Health Systems | Health/Medicine | Global -
ArticlePublication 2016Health and Economic Benefits of Public Financing of Epilepsy Treatment in India
This study uses extended cost-effectiveness analysis (ECEA) to evaluate the impact of three scenarios of …
This study uses extended cost-effectiveness analysis (ECEA) to evaluate the impact of three scenarios of publicly financed national epilepsy programs in India that provide (1) first line antiepilepsy drugs (AEDs), (2) first- and second-line AEDs, and (3) first- and second-line AEDs and surgery. Outcome measures include disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) averted, and cost per DALY averted. Economic benefit measures estimated include out-of-pocket (OOP) expenditure averted and money-metric value of insurance. All three scenarios represent a…
Microsimulation | Economics/Finance | Priority Setting/Ethics | Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Chronic Disease/Risk | Health/Medicine | Asia & Pacific -
ArticlePublication 2017Catastrophic Costs Potentially Averted by TB Control in India and South Africa
This study estimated the reduction in tuberculosis-related catastrophic costs with an aggressive expansion of tuberculosis …
This study estimated the reduction in tuberculosis-related catastrophic costs with an aggressive expansion of tuberculosis services in India and South Africa from 2016 to 2035, in line with the End TB Strategy. The authors investigated three intervention scenarios: improved treatment of drug-sensitive tuberculosis; improved treatment of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis; and expansion of access to tuberculosis care through intensified case finding (South Africa only). In India and South Africa, improvements in treatment for drug-sensitive and multidrug-resistant tuberculosis…
Mathematical Models | Economics/Finance | Priority Setting/Ethics | Infectious Diseases | Health Systems | Health/Medicine | Sub-Saharan Africa | Asia & Pacific -
ArticlePublication 2018Equity Impact Vaccines May Have on Averting Deaths and Medical Impoverishment
In this analysis, authors estimated the number of deaths averted and the number of cases …
In this analysis, authors estimated the number of deaths averted and the number of cases of medical impoverishment averted of ten antigens and their corresponding vaccines across income quintiles for forty-one low- and middle-income countries. The study found that vaccines administered between 2016 and 2030 would prevent 36 million deaths. Vaccines will have the greatest impact on reducing cases of poverty caused by hepatitis B, helping an estimated 14 million people avoid medical impoverishment. An…
Mathematical Models | Economics/Finance | Priority Setting/Ethics | Costing Methods | Health Outcomes | Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Infectious Diseases | Child/Nutrition | Global Governance | Health/Medicine | Science/Technology | Sub-Saharan Africa | Middle East & North Africa | Asia & Pacific -
ArticlePublication 2017Cost-Effectiveness of Testing and Treatment for Latent TB
Testing for and treating latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) is among the main strategies to achieve …
Testing for and treating latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) is among the main strategies to achieve TB elimination in the United States. This analysis estimated health outcomes, costs, and cost-effectiveness of LTBI testing and treatment among non-US born residents with and without medical comorbidities (e.g., diabetes, HIV infection, and end-stage renal disease). A decision analytic tree and Markov cohort simulation model was used to compare the following strategies: no testing, tuberculin skin test (TST), interferon gamma release assay…
Microsimulation | Economics/Finance | Test Performance | State-Transition | Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Infectious Diseases | Chronic Disease/Risk | Health Systems | Health/Medicine | Global | North America -
Tutorial/PrimerWeb Portal, Teaching Resource 2015Decision Theory
This chapter on normative decision theory is from the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, a dynamic reference …
This chapter on normative decision theory is from the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, a dynamic reference work available online. Decision theory is concerned with the reasoning underlying an person's choices, whether a mundane choice between taking the bus or getting a taxi, or a more far-reaching choice about whether to pursue a demanding political career. The orthodox normative decision theory, expected utility (EU) theory, essentially says that, in situations of uncertainty, one should prefer the option…
Decision Theory | Economics/Finance | Preferences/Values | Graduate | Doctoral | Critical Thinking/Analysis | Quantitative Literacy -
ArticlePublication 2017Getting it Right When Budgets are Tight: Prioritizing Responses to HIV Epidemics
Prioritizing investments across health interventions is complicated by the nonlinear relationship between intervention coverage and …
Prioritizing investments across health interventions is complicated by the nonlinear relationship between intervention coverage and epidemiological outcomes. It can be difficult for countries to know which interventions to prioritize for greatest epidemiological impact, particularly when budgets are uncertain.The authors examined four case studies of HIV epidemics in diverse settings, each with different characteristics. These case studies were based on public data available for Belarus, Peru, Togo, and Myanmar. The Optima HIV model and software package…
Mathematical Models | Economics/Finance | Priority Setting/Ethics | Costing Methods | Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Infectious Diseases | Health Systems | Health/Medicine | Sub-Saharan Africa | Middle East & North Africa | Latin America & Caribbean | Asia & Pacific -
Tutorial/PrimerPublication, Teaching Resource 2017Guide to Regulatory Impact Analysis
Regulatory impact analyses (RIAs) weigh the benefits of regulations against the burdens they impose and …
Regulatory impact analyses (RIAs) weigh the benefits of regulations against the burdens they impose and are invaluable tools for informing decision makers. The Consumer’s Guide to Regulatory Impact Analysis: Ten Tips for Being an Informed Policymaker offers 10 tips for non-specialist policymakers and interested stakeholders who will be reading RIAs as consumers.
Risk Analysis | Government/Law | Benefit-Cost Analysis | Global -
Tutorial/PrimerPublication, Teaching Resource 2014Decision Theory: A Formal Philosophical Introduction
Decision theory is the study of how choices are and should be made in a …
Decision theory is the study of how choices are and should be made in a variety of different contexts. The author approaches the topic from a formal-philosophical point of view with a focus on normative and conceptual issues. After considering the question of how decision problems should be framed, he examines both the standard theories of chance under conditions of certainty, risk and uncertainty and some of the current debates about how uncertainty should be measured and how…
Decision Theory | Economics/Finance | Preferences/Values | Doctoral | Critical Thinking/Analysis | Quantitative Literacy