The International Health Economics Association was formed to increase communication among health economists, foster a higher standard of debate in the application of economics to health and health care systems, and assist young researchers at the start of their careers. Amanda Pomeroy, SPRING’s Research and Evaluation Officer/JSI, presented “SPRING Extended Cost Effectiveness Model: Maternal Interventions to Improve Birth Outcomes” from research conducted with colleagues Warren Stevens (consultant), Marc Cunningham (JSI), Alexis D’Agostino (JSI), and Jolene Wun (JSI). The study analyzed the cost effectiveness of three potential maternal nutrition interventions (multiple micronutrient supplementation (MMS), balanced protein energy (BPE) supplementation, and family planning to increase birth intervals) for preventing infant mortality (short-term effects) and cardiovascular disease (long-term effects) in Bangladesh. They found that survivorship in infancy has a significant confounding effect on long-term results; however, the inclusion of long-term effects produced an increase in the cost-effectiveness ratio for disability-adjusted life years, showing a non-trivial additional value on later life health outcomes. All interventions were cost effective when considering just short-term effects, and MMS and BPE interventions were highly cost effective when both short- and long-term effects were counted; family planning was not.
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