221.657.11
Disease and Program Costing in Global Health Programs

Cancelled

Prerequisite:

No prerequisite. Students should have background in public health and/or in medical and health sciences and a general understanding of the current issues and priorities in public health, including the sustainable development goals

Description:

Data on the cost of healthcare and public health programs, as well as on the diseases they aim to curb, are instrumental to policymaking, from planning and evaluating new healthcare technologies to understanding how the economic burden of diseases is distributed in a population. This course will enable you to consolidate a public health proposal with an assessment of its economic impact. You will learn and practice different costing approaches to estimate the cost of public health interventions and assess the economic burden of diseases on the population and the healthcare system that serves them.

Provides a solid foundation in the key concepts and methods used for costing in global contexts with a focus on practice and policy. Focuses on defining costs and rationales for costing, quantifying the cost, defining the disease case, and identifying cost components that vary by country and settings. Discusses the challenges of costing in low- and middle-income settings and prepares students to design and execute a cost analysis on a global health program and on a disease. Helps students frame cost data and economic evidence for policymaking and advocacy. Includes topics such as taxonomy of costs, perspectives, epidemiological considerations, evaluating data sources, patient/caregiver economic survey design, analysis methods, and dissemination techniques.

Learning Objectives:

Upon successfully completing this course, students will be able to:

1. Define key economic costs and understand their importance in policy decisions
2. Describe the methods for conducting scientifically rigorous analyses in program and disease costing and identify the steps involved in conducting such analyses
3. Link cost of illness estimates with impact evaluations and equity issues
4. Apply costing methodology to estimate the cost of a program or a disease, and identify the challenges involved in conducting such study
5. Effectively frame and communicate economic evidence for policymaking

Methods of Assessment:

This course is evaluated as follows:

• 20% Participation
• 30% Written Assignment(s)
• 30% Final Paper
• 20% Quizzes

Instructor Consent:

No consent required

Special Comments:

Those taking the economic evaluation series overlap only in the first two lectures. Final project is due 30 days after the last day of class.