Economic evaluation and implementation research on global health diagnostics solutions

Project team at the Division of Tropical Medicine, Heidelberg University Hospital:

Claudia Denkinger, Mary Gaeddert, Hoa T. Nguyen, Lisa J. Krueger, Lisa Koeppel

Project team at HIGH:

Manuela De Allegri, Hoa T. Nguyen, Alfonso Valenzuela Hurtado, Jonas Wachinger

Funding:

Diverse funding including: Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND) and Ministerium für Wissenshaft, Forschung und Kunst Baden-Württemberg (MWK)

Project duration:

Started in July 2020

Background:

Diagnostic testing is a key element in controlling other infectious diseases, including COVID-19, and represents the first essential point to being treated adequately for a given condition. As such, it represents an essential element of any health system strategy aimed at accomplishing Universal Health Coverage. Existing diagnostic procedures, however, are often inaccessible or too costly in many settings as evidenced in tuberculosis care. Moreover, new diagnostic needs emerge as we face new health challenges, the COVID-19 pandemic being the most notable example. As new diagnostics are being developed, evidence on their costs, health impacts, scaling up feasibility and related implementation strategies are needed to inform policy-making accordingly.

Study Objective:

In partnership with the Research Group in Health Economics and Health Financing at Heidelberg Institute of Global Health, led by Prof. Dr. Manuela De Allegri, we have set up a research program encompassing projects on economic evaluation and implementation research related to the introduction of new diagnostics at global level. Current projects include: the economic evaluation of rapid diagnostic tests in urine and stool to improve point-of-care detection of tuberculosis in difficult to diagnose patients such as children and people living with HIV; economic evaluation and implementation research of COVID-19 rapid diagnostic tests in Germany; and economic evaluation of private-public partnerships and infrastructural upgrade for tuberculosis control in India.

Study method:

Depending on the specific objective of each study, we combine standard economic evaluation methods with broader health technology assessment and implementation research approach. Our economic evaluation component assesses costs and outcomes of new diagnostics adopting either a health system or a societal perspective. We adopt micro-costing approaches to estimate the economic costs of implementing new diagnostics in different settings. We measure both the immediate and final health outcomes associated with the introduction of the new diagnostics and relate their costs to their effects through the application of decision modelling. Our implementation research component relies on mixed methods approaches, combining quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis methods.

Publications:

There are no publications yet resulting from this research program.

Contact:

Claudia Denkinger (Claudia.Denkinger(at)uni-heidelberg.de)

Manuela De Allegri (manuela.deallegri(at)uni-heidelberg.de)