The economic evaluation of malaria control technologies: the case of Nepal

This paper illustrates the methodological issues arising from the use of economic evaluation in a developing country context, and how economic evaluation can be applied in developing countries to draw conclusions of relevance to policy-makers. The paper reports research on the cost-effectiveness of the malaria control programme in Nepal. It outlines the heirarchy of choices presented by malaria control and concentrates on the evaluation of the mix of routine strategies employed by the programme, particularly for vector control and case detection and treatment. A social perspective is taken, and emphasis placed on identifying costs falling on households, namely private expenditure on treatment and loss of days of work. Conclusions are drawn relating to the application of economic evaluation methodology to disease control programmes in developing countries.