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Review
. 2019 Nov;20(6):266-273.
doi: 10.1177/1757177419852662. Epub 2019 Jun 4.

Cost-effectiveness of interventions to reduce the risk of healthcare-acquired infections in middle-income countries: A systematic review

Pushpa Udayangani Gamalathge  1   2 , Sanjeewa Kularatna  1 , Hannah E Carter  1 , Sameera Senanayake  1 , Nicholous Graves  1
Affiliations
Review

Cost-effectiveness of interventions to reduce the risk of healthcare-acquired infections in middle-income countries: A systematic review

Pushpa Udayangani Gamalathge et al. J Infect Prev. 2019 Nov.

Abstract

Background: Hospital-acquired infections (HAI) contribute to prolonged hospital stays and account for a substantial economic burden to healthcare systems. Middle-income countries (MICs) experience a greater burden of HAI than developed countries. Evidence on the cost-effectiveness of interventions to reduce HAI is required to inform decision-making in these settings.

Aim: To synthesise the evidence on cost-effectiveness as related to HAI interventions in MICs and to assess the quality of this evidence.

Methods: A systematic review of published literature on the cost-effectiveness of interventions to reduce the incidence of HAI in MICs between 2000 and 2018 was conducted.

Results: Six studies met the pre-determined inclusion criteria. The studies were from three countries: Thailand; India; and Vietnam. The evidence suggests that interventions to reduce HAI are cost-effective and, in most cases, cost-saving to healthcare systems. The quality of the reporting varied across studies.

Conclusions: The implementation of HAI prevention interventions appears to be a high value use of resources in MICs. There is a need for further cost-effectiveness analyses in a wider range of MICs in order to confirm these findings. Improved standardisation and quality of reporting is required.

Keywords: Cost-effectiveness; economic evaluation; healthcare-associated infections; infection control; middle-income countries.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of conflicting interests: The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
PRISMA flow chart for selection of articles for the review.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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