Estimating average inpatient and outpatient costs and childhood pneumonia and diarrhoea treatment costs in an urban health centre in Zambia

Chola Lumbwe, Robberstad, Robberstad Bjarne

Description

Millions of children die every year in developing countries, from preventable diseases such as pneumonia and diarrhoea, owing to low levels of investment in child health. Investment efforts are hampered by a general lack of adequate information that is necessary for priority setting in this sector. This paper measures the health system costs of providing inpatient and outpatient services, and also the costs associated with treating pneumonia and diarrhoea in under-five children at a health centre in Zambia. Methods Annual economic and financial cost data were collected in 2005-2006. Data were summarized in a Microsoft excel spreadsheet to obtain total department costs and average disease treatment costs. Results The total annual cost of operating the health centre was US$1,731,661 of which US$1 284 306 and US$447,355 were patient care and overhead departments costs, respectively. The average cost of providing out-patient services was US$3 per visit, while the cost of in-patient treatment was US$18 per bed day. The cost of providing dental services was highest at US$20 per visit, and the cost of VCT services was lowest, with US$1 per visit. The cost per out-patient visit for under-five pneumonia was US$48, while the cost per bed day was US$215. The cost per outpatient visit attributed to under-five diarrhoea was US$26, and the cost per bed day was US$78. Conclusion In the face of insufficient data, a cost analysis exercise is a difficult but feasible undertaking. The study findings are useful and applicable in similar settings, and can be used in cost effectiveness analyses of health interventions.

Informations

• Publié par: biomed
• Publié le: 01 janvier 2009
• Nombre de lectures: 7
• Langue: English

Extrait

Cost Effectiveness and Resource Allocation

BioMedCentral

Open Access Research Estimating average inpatient and outpatient costs and childhood pneumonia and diarrhoea treatment costs in an urban health centre in Zambia 1,2 2 Lumbwe Chola*and Bjarne Robberstad

1 2 Address: CentralStatistical Office, Box 31908, Lusaka, Zambia andCentre for International Health, University of Bergen, Box 7804, N5020 Bergen, Norway Email: Lumbwe Chola*  [e-mail]; Bjarne Robberstad  [e-mail] * Corresponding author

Published: 21 October 2009Received: 3 March 2009 Accepted: 21 October 2009 Cost Effectiveness and Resource Allocation2009,7:16 doi:10.1186/1478-7547-7-16 This article is available from: http://www.resource-allocation.com/content/7/1/16 © 2009 Chola and Robberstad; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract Background:Millions of children die every year in developing countries, from preventable diseases such as pneumonia and diarrhoea, owing to low levels of investment in child health. Investment efforts are hampered by a general lack of adequate information that is necessary for priority setting in this sector. This paper measures the health system costs of providing inpatient and outpatient services, and also the costs associated with treating pneumonia and diarrhoea in under-five children at a health centre in Zambia. Methods:Annual economic and financial cost data were collected in 2005-2006. Data were summarized in a Microsoft excel spreadsheet to obtain total department costs and average disease treatment costs. Results:The total annual cost of operating the health centre was US$1,731,661 of which US$1 284 306 and US$447,355 were patient care and overhead departments costs, respectively. The average cost of providing out-patient services was US$3 per visit, while the cost of in-patient treatment was US$18 per bed day. The cost of providing dental services was highest at US$20 per visit, and the cost of VCT services was lowest, with US$1 per visit. The cost per out-patient visit for under-five pneumonia was US$48, while the cost per bed day was US$215. The cost per outpatient visit attributed to under-five diarrhoea was US$26, and the cost per bed day was US$78. Conclusion:In the face of insufficient data, a cost analysis exercise is a difficult but feasible undertaking. The study findings are useful and applicable in similar settings, and can be used in cost effectiveness analyses of health interventions.

Background The challenge to meet the millennium development goal of reducing underfive mortality with two thirds by 2015 has prompted the need for increased investment in child health in low income countries, where about 4.8 million

children die every year from preventable diseases [1]. More than 70 per cent of these child deaths are attributa ble to diseases such as diarrhoea, malaria and pneumonia [2]. Pneumonia and diarrhoea together account for more child deaths than any other single causes of death [3].

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