Global Investments In TB Control: Economic Benefits

• DOI: 10.1377/hlthaff.28.4.w730
• Publication Date: 2009-07-01T01:48:39Z
• Authors: Ramanan Laxminarayan; Eili Y. Klein; Sarah Darley; Olusoji Adeyi
• Keywords: Tuberculosis control; Economic cost; Global Health

The Global Plan to Stop TB calls for significant financial resources meet the Millennium Development Goals tuberculosis. However, it is unclear whether economic benefits of control exceed costs. Using an epidemiological model, we find that relative sustained DOTS (a commonly used treatment method) were unambiguously greater than incremental costs in all nine high-burden countries Africa and Afghanistan, Pakistan, Russia. Benefit-cost ratios sustaining at current levels having no exceeded 1 twenty-two high-burden, TB-endemic sub-Saharan Africa.