Engy M El-Ghitany1. 1. Tropical Health Department, High Institute of Public Health, Alexandria University, 165 El-Horreya Avenue, Alexandria, Egypt. Electronic address: ingy.elghitany@gmail.com.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: The Egyptian model of care against hepatitis C virus (HCV) has a great success in treatment and treatment accessibility, but still screening efforts must be strengthened. HCV is a silent infection when most of infected people are unaware of their infection. EGCRISC is a newly developed and validated risk-based HCV screening tool in Egypt that has shown a considerably good performance but is still underused. This brief communication is to analyze its use cost-effectiveness versus mass screening. STUDY DESIGN: Mathematical comparative analysis for economic evaluation. METHODS: Its performance data as published recently were used, and a minimum cost of L.E. 20 was considered per one antibody testing. The 2015 health issue survey and population census were used for estimating the population, infected individuals and susceptibles. RESULTS: The analysis showed that using EGCRISC would save LE 0.43 billion accounting for about 21,646,227 unnecessary tests, while missing less than 70,000 cases when compared to mass screening. CONCLUSION: EGCRISC is a cost-effective tool that must be adopted nationwide as soon as possible in Egypt for the best outcome of HCV control.
BACKGROUND: The Egyptian model of care against hepatitis C virus (HCV) has a great success in treatment and treatment accessibility, but still screening efforts must be strengthened. HCV is a silent infection when most of infected people are unaware of their infection. EGCRISC is a newly developed and validated risk-based HCV screening tool in Egypt that has shown a considerably good performance but is still underused. This brief communication is to analyze its use cost-effectiveness versus mass screening. STUDY DESIGN: Mathematical comparative analysis for economic evaluation. METHODS: Its performance data as published recently were used, and a minimum cost of L.E. 20 was considered per one antibody testing. The 2015 health issue survey and population census were used for estimating the population, infected individuals and susceptibles. RESULTS: The analysis showed that using EGCRISC would save LE 0.43 billion accounting for about 21,646,227 unnecessary tests, while missing less than 70,000 cases when compared to mass screening. CONCLUSION:EGCRISC is a cost-effective tool that must be adopted nationwide as soon as possible in Egypt for the best outcome of HCV control.
Authors: Mouaddh Abdulmalik Nagi; Mustafa Ali Ali Rezq; Sermsiri Sangroongruangsri; Montarat Thavorncharoensap; Pramitha Esha Nirmala Dewi Journal: Glob Health Res Policy Date: 2022-07-25