The Study
OHT researchers estimated the reductions in health burden and economic cost from cholera and typhoid vaccination among children under five. Using parameters from published sources and employing a static Markov model over five years, researchers estimated the incident cases, deaths, disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), hospitalization costs, outpatient visit costs averted, and economic benefits from mortality risk reduction under two scenarios:
- introduction of cholera and typhoid vaccines at current complete immunization rates; and
- scaling up cholera and typhoid vaccine coverage to 90%.
The highest benefits from vaccination were estimated to be among children in the lowest wealth quintile and poorer Indian states. The incremental cost-effectiveness of both scenarios would be approximately $108 per DALY averted, with benefit-cost ratios greater than one.
For policymakers, public health interventions are generally considered cost-effective if the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio is less than one-third of gross domestic product (GDP) per capita. With a GDP per capita in 2020 of US$1,900 and an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of approximately $108, both typhoid and cholera vaccinations for young children would be highly cost-effective.