Is prevention cost-effective?
Prevention can improve health at a lower cost than many treatments offered today by health systems. In South Africa, most of the prevention programmes examined will be cost-effective in the long run (i.e. 100 years) – relative to the standard of US$ 15 000 per year of life gained in good health. Some programmes will take a longer time to produce their health effects and therefore will be less cost-effective in the short run. Fiscal measures will be cost-saving after a few years. Cost per life year gained in good health of interventions to tackle obesity 5. Up to 14 700 life years could be gained through a combination of prevention programmes in South Africa every year. Combining several interventions to tackle unhealthy diet and physical inactivity is an efficient way of improving population health. The cost-effectiveness ratio of a prevention strategy including a mass media campaign, food taxes and subsidies, nutritional labelling and marketing restrictions would be US$ 13 500 per lif
