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- Chapter 4.7 Evaluating economic impacts in health emergency and disaster risk management
Section 4: Study design
Chapter 4.7 Evaluating economic impacts in health emergency and disaster risk management
Research Methods for Health EDRM
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- Section 4: Study design
- Chapter 4.7 Evaluating economic impacts in health emergency and disaster risk management
- Chapter 4.1 Basic principles in designing studies to assess the effects of interventions
- Chapter 4.2 Measuring the problem: Basic statistics
- Chapter 4.3 Cluster randomized trials
- Chapter 4.4 Collection and management of good quality data
- Chapter 4.5 Advanced statistical techniques
- Chapter 4.6 Health-related risk modelling
- Chapter 4.8 Geographic information systems
- Chapter 4.9 Real-time syndromic surveillance
- Chapter 4.10 Using logic models in research and evaluation of Health EDRM interventions
- Chapter 4.11 Researching communication and communicating research in Health EDRM
- Chapter 4.12 Qualitative research
- Chapter 4.13 Addressing complexity through mixed methods
- Chapter 4.14 Natural experiments in a hazard context
- Chapter 4.15 Monitoring and evaluation
Authors: Clarke L, Drummond MF.
Chapter 4.7 provides an introduction to evaluating economic impacts in Health EDRM through explaining:
- How economic evaluations and economic impact studies can support decision making in health emergency and disaster risk management (Health EDRM).
- The methods available to researchers conducting these studies.
- Research limitations, including evidence gaps and methodological challenges.
What is this chapter about?
Economic evaluations and economic impact studies are important because they can help decision makers manage competing spending priorities and maximize the value of their financial budgets.
This chapter provides an introduction to evaluating economic impacts in Health EDRM. It outlines the value of evaluating economic impacts, key concepts involved in conducting economic evaluations and current limitations in the context of Health EDRM. The chapter describes economic impact studies, which quantify the costs and consequences of past or potential events and economic evaluations, which are a structured way to evaluate costs and consequences of a programme or policy compared to an alternative course of action. Conducting these studies and applying their findings can be part of planning and evaluating prevention, preparedness, response and recovery activities in Health EDRM. This chapter provides several examples of studies that can inform decision makers and help address economic impacts on households, health systems and the wider economy.
Case studies presented in the chapter:
- Strategies for antiviral stockpiling for future influenza pandemics: a global epidemic-economic perspective.
- Epidemiological and economic impact of pandemic influenza in Chicago: priorities for vaccine interventions.
What are the key messages of this chapter?
- Evaluating economic impacts in Health EDRM can inform and improve prevention, preparedness, response and recovery activities.
- Economic evaluations and economic impact studies are established ways to evaluate the impacts of interventions and events. Researchers can draw upon standardized methods and knowledge built by existing communities of expertise.
- Current research gaps mean that researchers have the opportunity to develop specific guidance on how to examine economic outcomes in the context of Health EDRM and to conduct more research that incorporates economic evaluations, uses a societal perspective for economic outcomes, and is set in low- and middle-income countries – all of which can offer useful and usable information to improve Health EDRM practices.