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 percent.
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 US$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 US$108, both typhoid and cholera vaccinations for young children would be highly cost-effective.