Current projects my team are working/collaborating on:
Evaluating the cost and cost-effectiveness of preventive dengue interventions: I am currently working with the World Mosquito Program to investigate the cost and cost-effectiveness of Wolbachia replacement interventions as a form of dengue control.
The foundation and use of return on investment analysis: The return on investment (ROI) metric is increasingly being used for evaluating the value for money of public health interventions. However, in practice, there is notable methodological variation in these calculations of ROI. We are conducting a scoping review to investigate how the uses, terminology and methodology surrounding recent studies reporting the ROI metric to evaluate a healthcare intervention.
Costs of critical care and economic burden incurred by informal caregivers: The costs of ICU patients with critical illness are rising quickly in Vietnam, but there are limited data on this area. We are exploring the economic burden of critically ill patients at the ICU of the Hospital for Tropical Diseases (HCMC, Vietnam) with a focus on dengue, sepsis and tetanus. A particular emphasis of the work is investing the burden incurred by the patients’ informal caregivers and the proportion of the economic burden that is not covered by the health care provider. This work is being led by Trinh Manh Hung (OUCRU).
Cost and cost-effectiveness of Hepatitis C treatment: Within this project, we are investigating the full cost of Direct-acting antiviral (DAA) treatment for Hepatitis C. This includes quantifying what costs the patients incur to access the treatment and how these might be different for those that need to travel from outside HCMC. Understanding the full cost of DAA-based treatment is essential to effectively advocate for patients, and enable policymakers in Vietnam to enhance accessibility to treatment. Using this data will also be investigating the cost-effectiveness of DAA treatment in Vietnam. This work is being led by Huyen Anh Nguyen (OUCRU).
Capacity strengthening: The global demand for economic evaluations and cost-effectiveness analysis is rapidly increasing. However, counterintuitively, many economic evaluations are performed by those without a formal health economic background and capacity in this area is an ongoing challenge. Consequently, there is an urgent need for widespread and novel capacity building/strengthening in this area. In collaboration with HITAP and a range of co-authors, we are developing open-access online material that covers fundamental topics related to economic evaluations. Examples include
- Adjusting for inflation and currency changes within health economic studies
- An Introduction to the Main Types of Economic Evaluations Used for Informing Priority Setting and Resource Allocation in Healthcare: Key Features, Uses, and Limitations
PhD Students
Huyen Anh Nguyen (OUCRU): Health economic evaluation of direct-acting antivirals for hepatitis C treatment in Vietnam
Thinh Ong Phuc (OUCRU): Using sero-surveillance to improve the prevention and control of vaccine-preventable diseases