Does anyone have estimates on the cost effectiveness of trachoma prevention? It seems as though mass antibiotic administration is effective and cheap, and blindness is quite serious. However room for funding might be limited. I haven’t seen it investigated by many of the organizations, but maybe I just haven’t found the right report.
GiveWell looked at this in 2009 and decided that chemoprophylaxis is not cost effective.
GiveWell leans on a 2005 Cochrane study that concluded that “For the comparisons of oral or topical antibiotic against placebo/no treatment, the data are consistent with there being no effect of antibiotics”.
However, it looks like Cochrane revisited this in 2019 and I’m not sure if Givewell took a second look.
I realise that my response is a bit late, but there is some peer-reviewed literature on this matter. The most relevant paper would be this one from 2005. The main results are:
(...) trichiasis surgery with 80% coverage of the population would avert more than 11 million DALYs per year globally, with cost effectiveness ranging from I$13 to I$78 per DALY averted, which is below the cost-effectiveness threshold of three times GDP per capita. Mass antibiotic treatment using azythromycin at prevailing market prices at 95% coverage level would avert more than 4 million DALYs per year globally and is most cost-effective among antibiotic interventions with ratio’s ranging between I$9,000 and I$65,000 per DALY averted. However, the cost per DALY averted exceeds the cost-effectiveness threshold.
Unfortunately, I am not aware of any more recent paper using updated azythromycin costs. It would be interesting for someone to perform a new cost-effectiveness study based on the 2015 International Medical Products Price Guide, as the price of azythromycin is known to have decreased since 2005. There is, however, a recent study restricted to Malawi that suggests that mass treatment with azythromycin may be cost-effective.
Does anyone have estimates on the cost effectiveness of trachoma prevention? It seems as though mass antibiotic administration is effective and cheap, and blindness is quite serious. However room for funding might be limited. I haven’t seen it investigated by many of the organizations, but maybe I just haven’t found the right report.
GiveWell looked at this in 2009 and decided that chemoprophylaxis is not cost effective.
GiveWell leans on a 2005 Cochrane study that concluded that “For the comparisons of oral or topical antibiotic against placebo/no treatment, the data are consistent with there being no effect of antibiotics”.
However, it looks like Cochrane revisited this in 2019 and I’m not sure if Givewell took a second look.
Hey Wubbles,
I realise that my response is a bit late, but there is some peer-reviewed literature on this matter. The most relevant paper would be this one from 2005. The main results are:
Unfortunately, I am not aware of any more recent paper using updated azythromycin costs. It would be interesting for someone to perform a new cost-effectiveness study based on the 2015 International Medical Products Price Guide, as the price of azythromycin is known to have decreased since 2005. There is, however, a recent study restricted to Malawi that suggests that mass treatment with azythromycin may be cost-effective.