Economic considerations for helminth control.

The economic literature related to the control of helminths has grappled with three inter-related questions: is the control of helminths a priority health issue at a time of increasing resource scarcity, are any of the available options affordable and what is the most cost-effective control strategy? In this review of the recent literature, Helen Guyatt and David Evans reveal that the attempts to answer these questions have not been entirely successful, partly because they have sometimes focused on inappropriate issues and partly because some of the potentially valuable economic techniques are still being developed. However, the major current impediment to the provision of satisfactory answers is the lack of precise detail about the nature of the morbidity associated with helminth infections.