Cost implications of a nationwide survey of schistosomiasis and other intestinal helminthiases in Sudan

Abstract

Background: It is vital to share details of concrete experiences of conducting a nationwide survey, so that the global health community could adapt it to expand geographic mapping programs, eventually contributing to the development of control and elimination strategies with limited resources. A nationwide survey of schistosomiasis and nine other intestinal helminthiases was conducted Objectives: We aimed to describe details of the key activities and components required for the nationwide survey of schistosomiasis and other intestinal helminthiases and to analyze its costs. Methods:We estimated financial and economic costs from the provider's perspective. Cash expenditures incurred to implement the survey were defined as financial costs. We took into account all of the resources invested in the survey for economic costs, including the components that were not paid for, such as vehicles and survey equipment provided by the Ministry of Health, Sudan and the opportunity costs of primary school teachers' time spent on the survey. We ran one-way sensitivity and probabilistic analyses using Monte-Carlo methods with 10,000 draws to examine the robustness of the primary analysis results.Results: A total of USD 1,465,902 and USD 1,516,238 was incurred for the financial and economic costs, respectively. The key cost drivers of the nationwide survey were personnel and transportation, for both financial and economic costs. Personnel and transportation accounted for around 64% and 18% of financial costs, respectively. Conclusions:The cost is expected to vary depending on the quantity and quality of existing laboratory facilities, equipment, and consumables, and the capability of laboratory technicians and sample collectors. Establishing central-level and independent supervision mechanisms to 3 ensure the quality of the survey is equally important. We expect the global health community to draw on this study when developing nationwide surveys of schistosomiasis and other intestinal helminthiases.