Health Policy and Planning, Vol 13, 384-396, Copyright © 1998 by Oxford University Press
T Partnership for Child Development
It has been argued that targeting delivery of anthelmintics to
school-children by taking advantage of the existing education
infrastructure and administrative system can be one of the most
cost-effective approaches in minimizing the intensity of infections with
both schistosomiasis and major intestinal nematodes in many developing
countries.The study was conducted in January 1997, shortly after the
completion of the drug intervention programme. This paper provides an
analysis of the costs of providing age-targeted treatment of school
children for urinary schistosomiasis using praziquantel and for intestinal
nematodes using albendazole as an integral part of the School Health
Programme in Tanga Region, Tanzania.The analysis shows that the total
financial cost of the intervention programme in 1996 prices was US$54
252.28 (exchange rate: TSH 573 = US$1). Of this amount, the cost of drugs
constitutes 80.6%, while the delivery cost appears relatively low,
representing just below 20%. Even when the opportunity cost of unpaid days
of labour input is included, the cost of drugs still remains the highest
cost component of the intervention (55.8%). In the current epidemiological
and logistic setting of Tanzania, the financial cost per child treated
using praziquantel, which involved prior screening at the school level, was
US$0.79, while treatment using albendazole was as low as US$0.23, of which
US$0.20 was drug purchase cost.It is concluded that the base cost of
delivering a universal, standard, school-based health intervention such as
albendazole can be as low as US$0.03 per child treated, but even a very
slight increase in the complexity of delivery can have a very significant
impact on the cost of intervention.
ARTICLES
Cost of school-based drug treatment in Tanzania
Wellcome Trust Centre for the Epidemiology of Infectious Disease, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
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