Abstract
BackgroundHome management of malaria (HMM), promoting presumptive treatment of febrile children in the community, is advocated to improve prompt appropriate treatment of malaria in Africa. The cost-effectiveness of HMM is likely to vary widely in different settings and with the antimalarial drugs used. However, no data on the cost-effectiveness of HMM programmes are available.Methods/Principal FindingsA Markov model was constructed to estimate the cost-effectiveness of HMM as compared to conventional care for febrile illnesses in children without HMM. The model was populated with data from Uganda, but is designed to be interactive, allowing the user to adjust certain parameters, including the antimalarials distributed. The model calculates the cost per disability adjusted life year averted and presents the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio compared to a threshold value. Model output is stratified by level of malaria transmission and the probability that a child would receive appropriate care from a health facility, to indicate the circumstances in which HMM is likely to be cost-effective. The model output suggests that the cost-effectiveness of HMM varies with malaria transmission, the probability of appropriate care, and the drug distributed. Where transmission is high and the probability of appropriate care is limited, HMM is likely to be cost-effective from a provider perspective. Even with the most effective antimalarials, HMM remains an attractive intervention only in areas of high malaria transmission and in medium transmission areas with a lower probability of appropriate care. HMM is generally not cost-effective in low transmission areas, regardless of which antimalarial is distributed. Considering the analysis from the societal perspective decreases the attractiveness of HMM.ConclusionSyndromic HMM for children with fever may be a useful strategy for higher transmission settings with limited health care and diagnosis, but is not appropriate for all settings. HMM may need to be tailored to specific settings, accounting for local malaria transmission intensity and availability of health services.
Highlights
Prompt treatment with effective antimalarial drugs is one of the key strategies for reducing the burden of malaria
Costing In Uganda’s Home management of malaria (HMM) programme, the drug costs constitute the majority of the overall programme costs, regardless of the regimen (Table 2)
The household costs of treating febrile episodes were lower with HMM programme, compared to conventional care, averaging $0.90 and $1.50, respectively
Summary
Prompt treatment with effective antimalarial drugs is one of the key strategies for reducing the burden of malaria. HMM involves presumptively treating febrile children at or near home with pre-packaged antimalarials distributed by trained members of the community. Presumptive treatment of all febrile illnesses as malaria could result in poor health outcomes due to delays in treating non-malarial illnesses [6], unnecessary exposure to antimalarial medications and their toxicities [7], increased drug pressure and potential for parasite resistance [8], and wastage of valuable drugs reducing their cost-effectiveness [9]. Home management of malaria (HMM), promoting presumptive treatment of febrile children in the community, is advocated to improve prompt appropriate treatment of malaria in Africa. No data on the cost-effectiveness of HMM programmes are available
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