PARASITE SCREENING AND TREATMENT AMONG INDOCHINESE REFUGEES - COST-BENEFIT UTILITY AND THE GENERAL HEALTH-POLICY MODEL

Abstract

The General Health Policy Model and the Quality of Well-being scale were used to describe a cost-benefit/utility evaluation of a screening and treatment program for intestinal parasites among Indochinese refugees in the United States. Cost-benefit/utility analysis subsumed conventional cost-effectiveness by explicity adding social utility factors to the dollar dimension. Using actual data on parasite prevalence and program costs from 1 screening project and estimated figures for other factors, this article demonstrated calculation of the cost-benefit/utility outcome measure, dollars/well-year. Dollars/well-year for parasite screening were calculated for a number of examples. Further analysis and final conclusions on the worth of parasite screening and treatment programs await more reliable data for some terms of the developed model.