Pharmaceutical expenditure represents a large percentage of total healthcare expenditure, and has thus received much attention within the economic evaluation literature. However, although the number of contingent valuation (CV) studies measuring willingness to pay (WTP) in healthcare has...

Background: Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is, at least in part, associated with high antimicrobial usage and causes increased morbidity, mortality and healthcare costs. However, policies to contain AMR focus on `micro' interventions - typically in one institution (usually a hospital)....

Childhood immunisation is one of the most cost-effective public health interventions, yet its population coverage in low- and middle-income countries is severely limited by the fiscal constraints that health services face. A recent proposal suggested that commitments to purchase vaccines and...

Background: Medication review by pharmacists is increasingly being implemented in the primary care setting and has been incorporated into the new pharmacy contract in the UK. This study aims to determine the cost effectiveness of home-based medication review in older people. Methods: This...

The use of discrete-choice contingent valuation (CV) to elicit individuals' preference, expressed as maximum willingness-to-pay (WTP), although primarily developed in environmental economics, has been popular in the economic evaluation of health and healthcare. However, a concern with this...

This paper is based upon an extensive review of 71 willingness-to-pay (WTP) surveys of health and health care published in English during the period 1985-1998. The aim of the paper is to outline the arguments advanced for the superiority of WTP over quality-adjusted-life-years (QALYs) as a...

With increased globalisation comes the likelihood that infectious disease appearing in one country will spread rapidly to another, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) being a recent example. However, although SARS infected some 10,000 individuals, killing around 1000, it did not lead to the...

Health systems in low- and middle-income countries: an economic and policy perspective outlines the key aspects and issues concerning health systems of low- and middle-income countries, recognising the current global context within which these systems operate and the dynamics of this context. It...

Little is known about the possible impact of an influenza pandemic on a nation's economy. We applied the UK macroeconomic model 'COMPACT' to epidemiological data on previous UK influenza pandemics, and extrapolated a sensitivity analysis to cover more extreme disease scenarios. Analysis suggests...