BackgroundWorldwide, a total of 6.282 million deaths occurred among children aged less than 5 years in 2013. About 47.4 % of those were borne by the 47 Member States of the World Health Organization (WHO) African Region. Sadly, even as we approach the end date for the 2015 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), only eight African countries are on track to achieve the MDG 4 target 4A of reducing under-five mortality by two thirds between 1990 and 2015. The post-2015 Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3 target is “by 2030, end preventable deaths of new-borns and children under 5 years of age”. There is urgent need for increased advocacy among governments, the private sector and development partners to provide the resources needed to build resilient national health systems to deliver an integrated package of people-centred interventions to end preventable child morbidity and mortality and other structures to address all the basic needs for a healthy population. The specific objective of this study was to estimate expected/future productivity losses from child deaths in the WHO African Region in 2013 for use in advocacy for increased investments in child health services and other basic services that address children’s welfare.MethodsA cost-of-illness method was used to estimate future non-health GDP losses related to child deaths. Future non-health GDP losses were discounted at 3 %. The analysis was undertaken with the countries categorized under three income groups: Group 1 consisted of nine high and upper middle income countries, Group 2 of 13 lower middle income countries, and Group 3 of 25 low income countries. One-way sensitivity analysis at 5 % and 10 % discount rates assessed the impact of the expected non-health GDP loss.ResultsThe discounted value of future non-health GDP loss due to the deaths of children under 5 years old in 2013 will be in the order of Int$ 150.3 billion. Approximately 27.3 % of the loss will be borne by Group 1 countries, 47.1 % by Group 2 and 25.7 % by Group 3. The average non-health GDP lost per child death will be Int$ 174 310 for Group 1, Int$ 57 584 for Group 2 and Int$ 25 508 for Group 3.ConclusionsIt is estimated that the African Region will incur a loss of approximately 6 % of its non-health GDP from the future years of life lost among the 2 976 000 child deaths that occurred in 2013. Therefore, countries and development partners should in solidarity sustainably provide the resources essential to build resilient national health systems and systems to address the determinants of health and meet the other basic needs such as for clothing, education, food, shelter, sanitation and clean water to end preventable child morbidity and mortality.

BackgroundAn estimated 147,741 maternal deaths occurred in 2010 in 45 of the 47 countries in the African Region of the World Health Organization (WHO). The objective of this study was to estimate the indirect cost of maternal deaths in the Region to provide data for use in advocacy for increased domestic and external investment in multisectoral policy interventions to curb maternal mortality.MethodsThis study used the cost-of-illness method to estimate the indirect cost of maternal mortality, i.e. the loss in non-health gross domestic product (GDP) attributable to maternal deaths. Estimates on maternal mortality for 2010 from Trends in maternal mortality: 1990 to 2010 published by WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA and the World Bank were used in these calculations. Values for future non-health GDP lost were converted into their present values by applying a 3% discount rate. One-way sensitivity analysis at 5% and 10% discount rates assessed the impact on non-health GDP loss. Indirect cost analysis was undertaken for the countries, categorized under three income groups. Group 1 consisted of nine high and upper middle income countries, Group 2 of 12 lower middle income countries, and Group 3 of 26 low income countries. Estimates for Seychelles in Group 1 and South Sudan in Group 3 were not provided in the source used.ResultsThe 147,741 maternal deaths that occurred in 45 countries in the African Region in 2010 resulted in a total non-health GDP loss of Int$ 4.5 billion (PPP). About 24.5% of the loss was in Group 1 countries, 44.9% in Group 2 countries and 30.6% in Group 3 countries. This translated into losses in non-health GDP of Int$ 139,219, Int$ 35,440 and Int$ 16,397 per maternal death, respectively, for the three groups. Using discount rates of 5% and 10% reduced the total non-health GDP loss by 19.1% and 47.7%, respectively.ConclusionMaternal mortality is responsible for a noteworthy level of non-health GDP loss among the countries in the African Region. There is urgent need, therefore, to increase domestic and external investment to scale up coverage of existing cost-effective, multisectoral women’s health interventions to reduce maternal morbidity and mortality.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/1471-2393-14-299) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

BackgroundIn 2014, almost half of the global tuberculosis deaths occurred in the World Health Organization (WHO) African Region. Approximately 21.5 % of the 6 060 742 TB cases (new and relapse) reported to the WHO in 2014 were in the African Region. The specific objective of this study was to estimate future gross domestic product (GDP) losses associated with TB deaths in the African Region for use in advocating for better strategies to prevent and control tuberculosis.MethodsThe cost-of-illness method was used to estimate non-health GDP losses associated with TB deaths. Future non-health GDP losses were discounted at 3 %. The analysis was conducted for three income groups of countries. One-way sensitivity analysis at 5 and 10 % discount rates was undertaken to assess the impact on the expected non-health GDP loss.ResultsThe 0.753 million tuberculosis deaths that occurred in the African Region in 2014 would be expected to decrease the future non-health GDP by International Dollars (Int$) 50.4 billion. Nearly 40.8, 46.7 and 12.5 % of that loss would come from high and upper-middle- countries or lower-middle- and low-income countries, respectively. The average total non-health GDP loss would be Int$66 872 per tuberculosis death. The average non-health GDP loss per TB death was Int$167 592 for Group 1, Int$69 808 for Group 2 and Int$21 513 for Group 3.ConclusionTuberculosis exerts a sizeable economic burden on the economies of the WHO AFR countries. This implies the need to strongly advocate for better strategies to prevent and control tuberculosis and to help countries end the epidemic of tuberculosis by 2030, as envisioned in the United Nations General Assembly resolution on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s40249-016-0138-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

KEYWORDSCoronavirus disease; fiscal value of human lives; non-health gross domestic product 2 Abstract Objective: According to the WHO coronavirus disease (COVID-19) situation report 35, as of 24 th February 2020, there was a total of 77,262 confirmed COVID-19 cases in China. That included 2,595 deaths. The specific objective of this study was to estimate the fiscal value of human lives lost due to COVID-19 in China as of 24 th February 2020. Results: The deaths from COVID-19 had a discounted (at 3%) total fiscal value of Int$ 924,346,795 in China. Out of which, 63.2% was borne by people aged 25-49 years, 27.8% by people aged 50-64 years, and 9.0% by people aged 65 years and above. The average fiscal value per death was Int$ 356,203. Re-estimation of the economic model alternately with 5% and 10 discount rates led to a reduction in the expected total fiscal value by 21.3% and 50.4%, respectively. Furthermore, the re-estimation of the economic model using the world's highest average life expectancy of 87.1 years (which is that of Japanese females), instead of the national life expectancy of 76.4 years, increased the total fiscal value by Int$ 229,456,430 (24.8%). 1,409.29 million and a total gross domestic product (GDP) of Int$ 29,712.83 billion [1]. According to WHO, as at 24 February 2020, there was a total of 79,331 confirmed coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases in the world, which including 2,618 deaths [2]. About 77,262 (97.39%) of those cases and 2,595 (99.12%) were in China. Huang et al [3] study entitled "Clinical features of patients infected with 2019 novel coronavirus in Wuhan, China" revealed that 49% of people who died of COVID-19 were aged 25-49 years,34% were aged 50-64 years, and 17% were aged 65 years and above.

This study bridges extant information gap on the pecuniary value of disability-adjusted-life-years (DALYs) lost in the Arab Maghreb Union (AMU). The DALYs lost in 2015 are converted into money using human capital (lost output) approach. The AMU total value of DALYs lost from all causes is the sum of each of the five country's pecuniary value of DALYs (PVD) lost from all causes. The PVD associated with DALYs lost due to j th disease among persons of a specific age group is the product of the per capita non-health GDP in international dollars (Int$