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. 2020 Apr 8;114(4):284-292.
doi: 10.1093/trstmh/traa003.

The health and economic burden of podoconiosis in Ethiopia

Kebede Deribe  1   2 , Nebiyu Negussu  3 , Melanie J Newport  1 , Gail Davey  1   2 , Hugo C Turner  4   5
Affiliations

The health and economic burden of podoconiosis in Ethiopia

Kebede Deribe et al. Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg. .

Abstract

Background: Podoconiosis is one of the leading causes of lymphoedema-related morbidity in low-income settings, but little is known about the scale of its health and economic impact. This information is required to inform control programme planning and policy. In this study, we estimated the health and economic burden of podoconiosis in Ethiopia.

Methods: We developed a model to estimate the health burden attributed to podoconiosis in terms of the number of disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) and the economic burden. We estimated the economic burden by quantifying the treatment and morbidity-management costs incurred by the healthcare system in managing clinical cases, patients' out-of-pocket costs and their productivity costs.

Results: In 2017, there were 1.5 million cases of podoconiosis in Ethiopia, which corresponds to 172 073 DALYs or 182 per 100 000 people. The total economic burden of podoconiosis in Ethiopia is estimated to be US$213.2 million annually and 91.1% of this resulted from productivity costs. The average economic burden per podoconiosis case was US$136.9.

Conclusions: The national cost of podoconiosis is formidable. If control measures are scaled up and the morbidity burden reduced, this will lead to Ethiopia saving millions of dollars. Our estimates provide important benchmark economic costs to programme planners, policymakers and donors for resource allocation and priority setting.

Keywords: burden; cost; economic; lymphoedema; podoconiosis.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Treatment-seeking behaviour of podoconiosis patients. The sources of the parameters are outlined in Table S5.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Tornado plot illustrating the impact of univariate sensitivity analysis on the estimated economic burden of podoconiosis. The parameters used for the sensitivity analysis are included in Table 1 and Table S5.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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