This article, published in PLOS ONE, conducts an extended cost-effectiveness analysis (ECEA) of two fully publicly financed interventions in Ethiopia: pneumococcal vaccination for newborns and pneumonia treatment for under-five children. The authors apply ECEA methods and estimate the program impact on: (1) government program costs; (2) pneumonia and pneumococcal deaths averted; (3) household expenses related to pneumonia/pneumococcal disease treatment averted; (4) prevention of household medical impoverishment; and (5) distributional consequences across the wealth strata of the population. The results indicate that vaccine and treatment interventions for children can bring large health and financial benefits to households in Ethiopia, most particularly among the poorest socio-economic groups.
This article, published in BMJ Open, aims to illustrate the size and distribution of benefits due to the treatment and prevention of diarrhoea (i.e., rotavirus vaccination) in Ethiopia. The authors use an economic model to examine the impacts of universal public finance (UPF) of diarrhoeal treatment alone, as opposed to diarrhoeal treatment along with rotavirus vaccination using extended cost-effectiveness analysis (ECEA). The study finds that diarrhoeal treatment paired with rotavirus vaccination is more cost effective than diarrhoeal treatment alone for the examined metrics (deaths and private expenditures averted). Policymakers should consider multiple benefit streams as well as their scale and incidence when considering public financing of health interventions.