Elsevier

Epidemics

Volume 41, December 2022, 100648
Epidemics

Considering equity in priority setting using transmission models: Recommendations and data needs

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epidem.2022.100648Get rights and content
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Highlights

  • Evidence from economic evaluations using transmission models is increasingly influential in priority setting decisions for infectious disease control, yet few such studies explicitly consider equity, despite the known heterogeneous impact of infectious disease interventions across population groups.

  • Including equity considerations in priority setting presents a number of conceptual and empirical challenges, including a) choices of equity frameworks and measures, b) the availability of disaggregated data in numerous health and equity dimensions, c) adjustments to standard model structures and analyses.

  • Transmission model-based analyses that include equity should consider and report explicitly on the following key points, in addition to the standard reporting of economic evaluations: 1) specification of equity concepts; 2) choice of evaluation framework; 3) decisions on model structure related to the inclusion of equity considerations; and 4) data sources and limitations.

Abstract

Objectives

Disease transmission models are used in impact assessment and economic evaluations of infectious disease prevention and treatment strategies, prominently so in the COVID-19 response. These models rarely consider dimensions of equity relating to the differential health burden between individuals and groups. We describe concepts and approaches which are useful when considering equity in the priority setting process, and outline the technical choices concerning model structure, outputs, and data requirements needed to use transmission models in analyses of health equity.

Methods

We reviewed the literature on equity concepts and approaches to their application in economic evaluation and undertook a technical consultation on how equity can be incorporated in priority setting for infectious disease control. The technical consultation brought together health economists with an interest in equity-informative economic evaluation, ethicists specialising in public health, mathematical modellers from various disease backgrounds, and representatives of global health funding and technical assistance organisations, to formulate key areas of consensus and recommendations.

Results

We provide a series of recommendations for applying the Reference Case for Economic Evaluation in Global Health to infectious disease interventions, comprising guidance on 1) the specification of equity concepts; 2) choice of evaluation framework; 3) model structure; and 4) data needs. We present available conceptual and analytical choices, for example how correlation between different equity- and disease-relevant strata should be considered dependent on available data, and outline how assumptions and data limitations can be reported transparently by noting key factors for consideration.

Conclusions

Current developments in economic evaluations in global health provide a wide range of methodologies to incorporate equity into economic evaluations. Those employing infectious disease models need to use these frameworks more in priority setting to accurately represent health inequities. We provide guidance on the technical approaches to support this goal and ultimately, to achieve more equitable health policies.

Keywords

Transmission modelling
Health economics
Equity
Cost-effectiveness analysis
Priority
Setting

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