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The economic cost to households of childhood malaria in Papua New Guinea : a focus on intra-country variation

Sicuri, Elisa and Davy, Carol and Marinelli, Marcella and Oa, Olive and Ome, Maria and Siba, Peter and Conteh, Lesong and Müller, Ivo. (2012) The economic cost to households of childhood malaria in Papua New Guinea : a focus on intra-country variation. Health Policy and Planning, 27 (4). pp. 339-347.

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Official URL: http://edoc.unibas.ch/dok/A6094413

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Abstract

BACKGROUND We compare direct and indirect household costs associated with malaria treatment for children >3 years in two provinces of Papua New Guinea. In particular, we explore the role of uncertainty around mean household costs and whether assuming a normal distribution for household costs limits the accuracy of any direct cost comparisons. METHODS Exit surveys were undertaken at inpatient and outpatient health facilities. In order to handle uncertainty and facilitate comparisons, parametric and non-parametric bootstrap methods were used to estimate direct and indirect costs at the individual data level. The inpatient and outpatient incremental costs from Madang and Maprik health facilities were compared and significant differences between provinces were identified. RESULTS Differences were noted between provinces for both inpatient and outpatient household costs. Total arithmetic mean costs for an outpatient malaria episode were US$7.54 in Madang and US$9.20 in Maprik. Total mean inpatient malaria episode costs were US$25.20 in Madang and US$14.08 in Maprik. As cost distributions were not normal, non-parametric bootstrap techniques were used for cost comparisons. Total household costs per outpatient episode of malaria were lower, although not significantly, in Maprik than in Madang (incremental cost of US$ -1.67; 95% CI -4.16, 0.31), while total household costs per inpatient episode were significantly higher in Madang than in Maprik (difference of US$11.16; 95% CI 5.47, 25.33). A difference was noted between provinces in the proportion of indirect costs in total household costs for an outpatient visit: 76% in Madang vs 94% in Maprik. The proportion for indirect costs associated with inpatient visits varied less: 63% in Madang vs 68% in Maprik. CONCLUSIONS Intra-country differences need to be considered in estimating household costs for both outpatient and inpatient malaria treatment. Our findings suggest that it is important to recognize the impact of both direct and indirect costs on individuals' capacity to afford treatment. Certain indirect costs are difficult to measure accurately, particularly respondents' interpretations of their productive versus non-productive time. Despite this, exploring intra-country cost variation can provide important information to health policy makers
Faculties and Departments:09 Associated Institutions > Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH) > Department of Swiss Centre for International Health (SCIH) > Systems Strengthening and Health Promotion (Prytherch)
UniBasel Contributors:Mueller, Ivo
Item Type:Article, refereed
Article Subtype:Research Article
Publisher:London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
ISSN:0268-1080
e-ISSN:1460-2237
Note:Publication type according to Uni Basel Research Database: Journal article
Identification Number:
Last Modified:11 Feb 2019 14:25
Deposited On:19 Jul 2013 07:42

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