Counting the cost of type 2 diabetes in Vanuatu

To determine the health system costs, cost to people with diabetes and their carers, and impact on quality of life associated with type 2 diabetes in Vanuatu.

A cross-sectional paper based survey was administered to 199 people with type 2 diabetes as part of a larger diabetes project.

There were 172 respondents (86% response rate) with a mean age of 56 years (mean duration of diabetes 8 years, 106 females; 67 unemployed). Over the preceding year there were 2352 outpatient visits for health care totalling 442,400 vatu ($4020 USD); 140 overnight hospital stays totalling 1,383,620 vatu ($12,580 USD); and prescription medications costing 3220 vatu/person ($29.20 USD). Major out-of-pocket costs for individuals were the over-the-counter medications totalling 6600 vatu/person/year ($60 USD) for 31 people (18%); transport at 1980 vatu/person/year ($18.00 USD) for 110 people (64%) and special diets for 38 people (22%) costing 36,480 vatu/person ($332 USD). Quality of life was 91/100 on the EQ-5D visual analogue scale.

Given that diabetes in Vanuatu is likely to be significantly under-diagnosed and under-treated the current costs, while substantial are artificially low but are set to rise sharply with increased awareness of diabetes and growing rates of obesity.