Monetary value of disability-adjusted-life-years lost from all causes in Mauritius

Abstract

Background The Republic of Mauritius lost a total of 402,565 disability-adjusted-life-years (DALY) from all causes in 2017. The objectives of this study were (a) to estimate the monetary value of DALY lost in 2017, and projected to be lost from all causes in Mauritius in 2030; and (b) to estimate the monetary value of DALY savings in year 2030, if the country would attain the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 3 (SDG3) targets 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4 and 3.6.Methods Human capital approach is used to monetarily value DALY lost from 293 causes in 2017. The monetary value of DALY lost in 2017 from each cause is equal to the Mauritius net gross domestic product (GDP) per capita multiplied by the number of DALY lost from a specific cause. The percentage reductions implied in the five SDG3 targets were used in the projections of the monetary values of DALY expected in 2030. The potential savings equals monetary value of DALY lost in 2017 minus monetary value of DALY expected in 2030. The DALY data was obtained from the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation Global Burden of Disease Study 2017 database; the current health expenditure per capita data was from the WHO Global Health Expenditure Database; and the per capita GDP data was obtained from the IMF outlook database.Results The DALY lost in 2017 had a total monetary value of Int$9,564,741,771. Of which, 82.9% resulted from non-communicable diseases; 10.2% from communicable, maternal, neonatal and nutritional diseases; and 6.9% from injuries. Full attainment of the five SDG 3 targets would avert DALY losses with a value of Int$2,986,241,156.Conclusions Diseases and injuries causes a significant DALY lost per year with a substantive monetary value. Full achievement of the SDG3 targets 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4 and 3.6 might potentially save the country about 9.351% of the total GDP of Mauritius in 2019. In order to achieve such savings, the country require to further strengthen the national health system, the other systems that tackle social determinants of health, and the national health research system.