Cost-effectiveness of screening methods for urinary schistosomiasis in a school-based control programme in Ibadan, Nigeria
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Published on: August 22, 2012
Akinola Ayoola Fatiregun1, Kayode O Osungbade, Aderonke E Olumide
1Department of Epidemiology, Medical Statistics and Environmental Health, Faculty of Public Health, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria. akinfati@yahoo.com
Objective:
To carry out a comparative cost-effectiveness analysis of screening methods for urinary schistosomiasis; terminal haematuria, unqualified haematuria, dysuria, visual urine examination and chemical reagent strip technique, in a school-based control programme.
Design:
Estimation of costs and determination of cost-effect ratios of the screening methods applied in a school-based screening and treatment programme, from the perspective of a programme manager.
Setting:
A junior secondary school in Ibadan, Nigeria.
Main Outcome Measures:
Cost per number of cases correctly diagnosed.
Results:
Unqualified haematuria was found to be the most cost-effective method costing N51.06 (US$ 2.16) to diagnose a case correctly, followed by terminal haematuria N58.91 (US$ 2.50) and dysuria N84.24 (US$ 3.57). Despite the relatively high input costs of chemical reagent strip technique over visual urine examination (N22.12 (US$ 0.94) per student vs. N6.44 (US$ 0.27) per student), it was found to be more cost effective costing N304.56 (US$ 12.91) to diagnose a case correctly than visual examination of urine cost of N317.58 (US$ 13.46) per correct case diagnosed.
Conclusion:
From the viewpoint of a programme manager, interview method of screening by asking for blood in the urine remains the most efficient means of screening for urinary schistosomiasis in school-based control programmes in our environment.
