Cost per episode of diarrhea and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in 128 low- and middle-income countries: how well do disease-specific and WHO-CHOICE estimates align?

ABSTRACT:

Objective

Non-disease-specific WHO-CHOICE unit costs are often used in cost and cost-effectiveness studies in the absence of country-specific data. This study aims to compare reported country-specific disease costs and the corresponding WHO-CHOICE estimates. We use generically defined "diarrhea" (including rotavirus diarrhea) and pathogen-specific "respiratory syncytial virus (RSV)" disease as examples.

Methods

We updated systematic reviews for both diseases in low-income (LICs), lower-middle-income (LMICs) and upper-middle-income (UMICs) countries. Diarrheal (including a sub-analysis of rotavirus-specific) and RSV-specific outpatient and inpatient costs per episode were extracted and compared with WHO-CHOICE estimates in the same countries. If a consistent pattern of under-

SUBMITTER: Li X 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11275658 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature