DCPN and ProVac have helped to support a growing interest in national level decision making that takes into consideration equity, financial risk protection, as well as cost-effectiveness and affordability. A recent resolution by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) Directing Council stated that countries' policy evaluations should "include assessing how new vaccines could prevent high out-of-pocket health care expenditures and assessing subnational variations in the likely impact of new vaccines.”
DCPN Senior Health Economist Carol Levin and Health Economics Analyst Zach Olson, in conjunction with members from the PAHO ProVac team hosted a capacity-building workshop at the Argentine Ministry of Health September 16-20, 2013.
The goals of the meeting were:
- To introduce the general concepts of Extended Cost-Effectiveness Analysis (ECEA) to the Ministry of Health Immunization and health economics teams.
- To discuss the feasibility of conducting an ECEA pilot with the aim of generating and piloting a standard ECEA approach for other PROVAC country teams in the PAHO region.
- To develop a work plan including possible scope and timeline for the pilot.
The proposed ECEA study would analyze the potential impact of new vaccine introduction on equity and financial risk protection measures. The main focus of the ECEA is to evaluate a publicly financed vaccination policy on health benefits, household (out-of-pocket) expenditures, and financial risk protection. The study will be conducted in Argentina using secondary and primary data, looking initially at the introduction of rotavirus vaccine, with the option of including pneumococcal vaccine. The Argentine Ministry of Health national immunization team expressed an interest including quantitative measures of equity and financial risk protection in other analysis moving forward.
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| The workshop was hosted by the Argentine Ministry of Health in Buenos Aires. |
La Casa Rosada (the Pink House) is the executive mansion and office of the Argentine President. |