TY - JOUR
T1 - The development of a public optometry system in Mozambique
T2 - A cost benefit analysis
AU - Thompson, Stephen
AU - Naidoo, Kovin
AU - Harris, Geoff
AU - Bilotto, Luigi
AU - Ferrão, Jorge
AU - Loughman, James
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2014 Thompson et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.
PY - 2014/9/23
Y1 - 2014/9/23
N2 - Background: The economic burden of uncorrected refractive error (URE) is thought to be high in Mozambique, largely as a consequence of the lack of resources and systems to tackle this largely avoidable problem. The Mozambique Eyecare Project (MEP) has established the first optometry training and human resource deployment initiative to address the burden of URE in Lusophone Africa. The nature of the MEP programme provides the opportunity to determine, using Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA), whether investing in the establishment and delivery of a comprehensive system for optometry human resource development and public sector deployment is economically justifiable for Lusophone Africa. Methods. A CBA methodology was applied across the period 2009-2049. Costs associated with establishing and operating a school of optometry, and a programme to address uncorrected refractive error, were included. Benefits were calculated using a human capital approach to valuing sight. Disability weightings from the Global Burden of Disease study were applied. Costs were subtracted from benefits to provide the net societal benefit, which was discounted to provide the net present value using a 3% discount rate. Results: Using the most recently published disability weightings, the potential exists, through the correction of URE in 24.3 million potentially economically productive persons, to achieve a net present value societal benefit of up to $1.1 billion by 2049, at a Benefit-Cost ratio of 14:1. When CBA assumptions are varied as part of the sensitivity analysis, the results suggest the societal benefit could lie in the range of $649 million to $9.6 billion by 2049. Conclusion: This study demonstrates that a programme designed to address the burden of refractive error in Mozambique is economically justifiable in terms of the increased productivity that would result due to its implementation.
AB - Background: The economic burden of uncorrected refractive error (URE) is thought to be high in Mozambique, largely as a consequence of the lack of resources and systems to tackle this largely avoidable problem. The Mozambique Eyecare Project (MEP) has established the first optometry training and human resource deployment initiative to address the burden of URE in Lusophone Africa. The nature of the MEP programme provides the opportunity to determine, using Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA), whether investing in the establishment and delivery of a comprehensive system for optometry human resource development and public sector deployment is economically justifiable for Lusophone Africa. Methods. A CBA methodology was applied across the period 2009-2049. Costs associated with establishing and operating a school of optometry, and a programme to address uncorrected refractive error, were included. Benefits were calculated using a human capital approach to valuing sight. Disability weightings from the Global Burden of Disease study were applied. Costs were subtracted from benefits to provide the net societal benefit, which was discounted to provide the net present value using a 3% discount rate. Results: Using the most recently published disability weightings, the potential exists, through the correction of URE in 24.3 million potentially economically productive persons, to achieve a net present value societal benefit of up to $1.1 billion by 2049, at a Benefit-Cost ratio of 14:1. When CBA assumptions are varied as part of the sensitivity analysis, the results suggest the societal benefit could lie in the range of $649 million to $9.6 billion by 2049. Conclusion: This study demonstrates that a programme designed to address the burden of refractive error in Mozambique is economically justifiable in terms of the increased productivity that would result due to its implementation.
KW - Blindness
KW - Cost benefit analysis
KW - Eye health
KW - Health economics
KW - Higher education
KW - Human resource development
KW - Mozambique
KW - Optometry
KW - Uncorrected refractive error
KW - Visual impairment
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84907917555&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1186/1472-6963-14-422
DO - 10.1186/1472-6963-14-422
M3 - Article
C2 - 25246105
AN - SCOPUS:84907917555
SN - 1472-6963
VL - 14
JO - BMC Health Services Research
JF - BMC Health Services Research
IS - 1
M1 - 422
ER -