A Cost-benefit Analysis of a Proposed Immigrant Latent Tuberculosis Infection Screening Program for Cyprus

The study explored the potential economic benefit of an expanded screening program of immigrants before entrance to Cyprus as a policy to reduce the overall cost of tuberculosis (TB). Thus, the aim of this study is to study whether screening all immigrants coming from countries (including European Union countries) with high incidence of tuberculosis would be in the economic interest of the Republic of Cyprus or not.

In order to assess whether it could be economically beneficial for Cyprus to expand the screening checks for TB to all immigrants coming from high prevalence countries, a Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) was employed, and the Net Present Value (NPV) of the project was calculated. In order to assess for uncertainty, sensitivity analysis using different scenarios, was conducted.

The analysis has a fifteen year length of implementation period and the base year (Year 0) was 2011. The NPV was estimated at €3,188,653 which is greater than zero; therefore, the expansion of screening diagnostic tests for TB to European citizens coming from countries with high prevalence of TB will have a significant benefit to the Cypriot economy and society. This result is also supported by the fact that all "what-if scenarios" of the sensitivity analysis yielded a positive NPV.

Our study concludes that testing all immigrants, including immigrants from high prevalence European countries that are not currently tested for TB, would be a cost-saving strategy to reduce the cost of treating TB in Cyprus.