Resource Pack: BCA in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

This resource pack, curated by the Center for Health Decision Science, includes methods papers, case studies, and reference case guidance for conducting benefit-cost analyses in low- and middle-income countries. These resources will aid advanced students and experienced practitioners in preparing these analyses.

Investing in global health and development requires making difficult choices about what initiatives to fund and what level of resources to devote to each initiative. Although benefit-cost analysis is a well-established and widely-used approach for quantifying and comparing the impacts of alternative investments, differences in analytic methods and assumptions can obscure important differences in impacts. To increase the comparability of these evaluations, improve their quality, and expand their use, the Center for Health Decision Science developed reference case guidance for conducting these analysis, with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

This resource pack includes the methods papers, case studies, and guidance that resulted from this effort. The methods papers cover approaches for estimating the monetary value of changes in fatal and nonfatal health risks, the time spent on travel and other activities, and the financial risks associated with the absence of insurance. They also address approaches for discounting future impacts, for assessing distribution, and for estimating economy-wide effects. The case studies illustrate the application of these methods to air pollution, education, nutrition, sanitation, tuberculosis, and water resource policies. Many of these were published in the Journal of Benefit-Cost Analysis where they can be accessed free of charge.

This project was led by Senior Research Scientist Lisa A. Robinson and Professor James K. Hammitt of the Center for Health Decision Science, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.