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Broadening Economic Evaluation to Inform and Develop Equitable Preventive and Promotive Health Policy

A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Global Health".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 April 2026 | Viewed by 390

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
1. Health Economics Unit, Department of Clinical Sciences, Lund University, 22381 Lund, Sweden
2. Department of Economics, Lund University, 22363 Lund, Sweden
Interests: health economics; health econometrics; inequalities in health; economics of health behaviour; international health expenditure; health system and organization
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
Health Economics Unit, Department of Clinical Sciences, Lund University, 22184 Lund, Sweden
Interests: health econonomics; inequality; education economics; segregation

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Some of the most important and high-pay-off health-related interventions may be achieved outside of clinical medicine. Even within medicine, there is an increasing focus on preventative interventions. The economic evaluation of such interventions presents new methodological challenges. There is a growing recognition of the need to consider wider impacts beyond health, including the distributional impacts of interventions.

For this Special Issue, we invite contributions that address theoretical, methodological, or applied aspects of economic evaluation in public health promotion and preventive activities. We particularly welcome studies that explore how to operationalize economic evaluations with a broader perspective and a wider social welfare focus within real-world policy settings. We are interested in measuring the social welfare impact of interventions, choosing relevant outcome measures, and strengthening institutional capacity for social welfare-informed decision-making. We are also interested in innovative uses of data, cross-country comparisons, and interdisciplinary approaches that connect economic evaluation with ethical, political, or behavioural insights.

By bringing together work at the intersection of health economics, public health, and policy, this Special Issue will provide practical guidance and conceptual clarity in evaluating the wider social welfare impacts of public health promotion and preventive activities.

Prof. Dr. Ulf Gerdtham
Dr. Gawain A. Heckley
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2500 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Distributional Cost-Effectiveness Analysis (DCEA)
  • health equity
  • public health policy
  • prevention
  • health promotion
  • economic evaluation
  • equity-informed decision-making
  • social welfare analysis
  • equity
  • health inequalities
  • resource allocation
  • efficiency and equity trade-offs
  • ethics in health economics
  • fairness in health care
  • behavioural economics

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

15 pages, 1837 KiB  
Article
Cost-Effectiveness of Youth-Friendly Health Services in Health Post Settings in Jimma Zone, Ethiopia
by Geteneh Moges Assefa, Muluken Dessalegn Muluneh, Sintayehu Abebe, Genetu Addisu and Wendemagegn Yeshanehe
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2025, 22(8), 1179; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph22081179 - 25 Jul 2025
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Abstract
Background: Adolescents in Ethiopia, particularly in rural areas, face significant barriers to accessing comprehensive sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services, resulting in poor health outcomes. The youth-friendly health services (YFHS) initiative addresses these challenges by training Health Extension Workers (HEWs) to deliver tailored, [...] Read more.
Background: Adolescents in Ethiopia, particularly in rural areas, face significant barriers to accessing comprehensive sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services, resulting in poor health outcomes. The youth-friendly health services (YFHS) initiative addresses these challenges by training Health Extension Workers (HEWs) to deliver tailored, age-appropriate care at the primary care level. This study evaluates the cost-effectiveness of YFHS implementation in rural health posts in the Jimma Zone, Ethiopia. Methods: Using an ingredient-based costing approach, costs were analyzed across six health posts, three implementing YFHS and three offering routine services. Health outcomes were modeled using disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) averted, and incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs) were calculated. Results: Results showed that YFHS reached 9854 adolescents annually at a cost of USD 29,680, compared to 2012.5 adolescents and USD 7519 in control sites. The study showed the ICER of USD 25.50 per DALY averted. The intervention improved health outcomes, including a 27% increase in antenatal care uptake, a 34% rise in contraceptive use, and a 0.065% reduction in abortion-related mortality, averting 52.11 DALYs versus 26.42 in controls. Conclusions: The ICER was USD 25.50 per DALY averted, well below Ethiopia’s GDP per capita, making it highly cost-effective by WHO standards. Scaling YFHS through HEWs offers a transformative, cost-effective strategy to advance adolescent SRH equity and achieve universal health coverage in Ethiopia. Full article
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