What is cost-effective analysis?
As vast disparities in global health continue to exist, cost-effective analysis is a necessary tool to ensure that resources are being used as wisely as possible. Determining which interventions are the most cost-effective requires an understanding of which programs have worked, how much they cost, and how they were executed. Cost-effective analysis is imperative because it assists in finding interventions that are relatively inexpensive, yet have the ability to significantly reduce poverty and disease. For example, more than 1 million children die from diarrhea every year, and oral rehydration therapy has been found to alleviate some of the harmful effects (although it does not diminish the diarrhea). Cost-effective analysis revealed that by spending only $2 to $4 per life year, significant results could be achieved. After countries observed how they could direct their resources to get the most “bang for their buck”, millions of lives were saved. (1) The basic concept of the calculati
