Economic cost estimation of selected strategies to control Soil Transmitted Helminth infections in the Philippines

Abstract

Background: Soil-transmitted helminth (STH) infections are among the most common infections worldwide. Due to the scarcity of resources, it is necessary to approach resource allocation in a systematic way such as the use of economic evaluation. One of the initial and most critical considerations in the conduct of economic evaluation is economic cost estimation.

Objectives: This study aims to estimate the economic costs associated with STH control strategy in terms of frequency (i.e., annual vs. biannual) and mode of delivery (i.e., mass vs. targeted). It also aims to identify whether such cost varies subnationally or among the three island groups of the country: Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.

Methods: A multi-level source data collection was carried out to capture the available resource inputs given the country's devolved setting. To capture regional or geographical variation in costs, local data were obtained from purposively selected Local Government Units (LGUs ) that were visited during the period June 2013 – October 2013. Costs from the national level have been captured through the Department of Health's regional offices. Both financial and non-financial costs of a round of mass annual treatment strategy have been collected, examined, and extrapolated using assumptions from other costing studies.

Results and Discussions: It is apparent that MB treatment strategy was the most expensive among the 4 interventions, while TA treatment strategy turned out to be the least expensive. The variations in costs among the different levels of government that have been observed across the 3 island groups reflect the extent of responsibilities that each LGU health office unit has in the programme implementation.

Conclusion: The devolved set-up of the country's health system has a large impact in the delivery and
implementation of the programme. Given the devolved health services in the country, respective LGUs would eventually need to step-up to fill in the gaps in implementing the programme.