Estimating the costs of adolescent HIV care visits and an intervention to facilitate transition to adult care in Kenya.

INTRODUCTION: Adolescents with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa face challenges transitioning to adult HIV care, which can affect long-term HIV care adherence and retention. An adolescent transition package (ATP) focused on transition tools can improve post-transition clinical outcomes, but its implementation costs are unknown. METHODS: We estimated the average cost per patient of an HIV care visit and ATP provision to adolescents. Data was collected from 13 HIV clinics involved in a randomized clinical trial evaluating ATP in western Kenya. We conducted a micro-costing and activity-driven time estimation to assess costs from the provider perspective. We developed a flow-map, conducted staff interviews, and completed time and motion observation. ATP costs were estimated as the difference in average cost for an HIV care transition visit in the intervention compared to control facilities. We assessed uncertainty in costing estimates via Monte Carlo simulations. RESULTS: The average cost of an adolescent HIV care visit was 29.8USD (95%CI 27.5, 33.4) in the standard of care arm and 32.9USD (95%CI 30.5, 36.8) in the ATP intervention arm, yielding an incremental cost of 3.1USD (95%CI 3.0, 3.4) for the ATP intervention. The majority of the intervention cost (2.8USD) was due ATP booklet discussion with the adolescent. CONCLUSION: The ATP can be feasibly implemented in HIV care clinics at a modest increase in overall clinic visit cost. Our cost estimates can be used to inform economic evaluations or budgetary planning of adolescent HIV care interventions in Kenya.

Cost of community-based human papillomavirus self-sampling in Peru: A micro-costing study.

Background: Cost data of human papillomavirus (HPV) self-sampling programs from low-and-middle-income countries is limited. We estimated the total and unit costs associated with the Hope Project, a community-based HPV self-sampling social entrepreneurship in Peru. Methods: We conducted a micro-costing analysis from the program perspective to determine the unit costs of (1) recruitment/training of community women (Hope Ladies); (2) Hope Ladies distributing HPV self-sampling kits in their communities and the laboratory testing; and (3) Hope Ladies linking screened women with follow-up care. A procedural manual was used to identify the program's activities. A structured questionnaire and in-depth interviews were conducted with administrators to estimate the resource/time associated with activities. We obtained unit costs for each input previously identified from budgets and expenditure reports. Findings: From November 2018 to March 2020, the program recruited and trained 62 Hope Ladies who distributed 4,882 HPV self-sampling kits in their communities. Of the screened women, 586 (12%) tested HPV positive. The annual cost per Hope Lady recruited/trained was $147·51 (2018 USD). The cost per HPV self-sampling kit distributed/tested was $45·39, the cost per woman followed up with results was $55·64, and the cost per HPV-positive woman identified was $378·14. Personnel and laboratory costs represented 56·1% and 24·7% of the total programmatic cost, respectively. Interpretation: Our findings indicate that implementation of a community-based HPV self-sampling has competitive prices, which increases its likelihood to be feasible in Peru. Further economic evaluation is needed to quantify the incremental benefits of HPV self-sampling compared to more established options such as Pap tests. Funding: Thomas Francis Jr. Fellowship provided funding for data collection. The Hope Project was funded by grants from Grand Challenges Canada (TTS-1812-21131), Uniting for Health Innovation, Global Initiative Against HPV and Cervical Cancer, University of Manitoba, and the John E. Fogarty International Center (5D43TW009375-05).

The Annual costs of treating genital warts in the Public Healthcare Sector in Peru.

OBJECTIVES: To estimate the cost of six different techniques used to treat Genital Warts and the annual average cost of treating a typical GW patient in Peru. To estimate the annual economic burden diagnosing and treating GW in the Peruvian public healthcare system. METHODS: We developed a prevalence-based, cost-of-illness study from the provider's perspective, the healthcare facilities under the purview of Peruvian Ministry of Health. We used an activity-based costing approach. We conducted primary data collection in three regions in Peru and supplemented it with governmental data. Uncertainty of the costing estimates was assessed via Monte Carlo simulations. We estimated the average cost and associated confidence intervals for six treatment options - three topical and three surgical - and the overall cost per patient. RESULTS: The average treatment cost per patient was 59.9USD (95 %CI 45.5, 77.6). Given a population of 18.4 million adults between 18 and 60 years of age and a GW prevalence of 2.28 %, the annual cost of treating GW was 25.1 million USD (uncertainty interval 16.9, 36.6). CONCLUSIONS: This study provides the first quantification of the economic burden of treating genital warts in Peru and one of the few in Latin America. The costing data did not include other healthcare providers or out-of-pocket expenditures, and hence we present a conservative estimate of the COI of GW in Peru. Our findings bring attention to the financial burden of treating GW, a vaccine-preventable disease.

Effectiveness of adherence to a renal health program in a health network in Peru / Efectividad de la adherencia a un programa de salud renal en una red sanitaria de Perú

ABSTRACT OBJECTIVE To evaluate the effectiveness of adherence to a multidisciplinary renal health program in reducing mortality and progression to hemodialysis. METHODS We used a database that included patient monitoring (2013-2017), dialysis admissions and all cause of mortality in Peru. Adherence to the program was established by meeting minimum visits during the first year of monitoring. The outcome of interest was hemodialysis admissions or all cause-mortality. Kaplan-Meier curves, Log-Rank test and competing survival analysis methods were used to estimate the differential risk between adherent and non-adherent patients. RESULTS A total of 20,354 participants was evaluated; 54.1% were male, 72.1 years old in average, 2.2 years average follow-up, and 15,279 (75.1%) belonged to the early stages (1 to 3a) of Chronic Kidney Disease. Adherence decreased the risk of renal replacement therapy in 41.0% (HR = 0.59, 95%CI 0.41-0.85) in the low-risk group and mortality in the high-risk group was 31.0% (HR = 0.69, 95%CI 0.57-0.83). CONCLUSIONS The multidisciplinary care strategy with standardized assessments by stage is effective in reducing admission to .0when the patient is identified in early stages and in reducing mortality in advanced stages.

RESUMEN OBJETIVO Evaluar la efectividad de la adherencia a un programa de salud renal en la reducción de mortalidad y progresión a hemodiálisis. MÉTODOS Utilizamos una base de datos que condensaba el seguimiento de los pacientes (2013-2017), los ingresos a diálisis de los mismos y la mortalidad por todas las causas en Perú. La adherencia al programa se estableció con el cumplimiento de visitas mínimas durante su primer año de seguimiento. La efectividad de la adherencia al programa se midió en términos de debut a hemodiálisis o muerte por todas las causas. Se utilizaron curvas de Kaplan-Meier, test de diferencias en la distribución (Log-Rank test) y métodos de análisis de supervivencia. Los análisis se realizaron utilizando R estudio 3.5.0 RESULTADOS Fueron evaluados 20.354 participantes, 54,1% varones, edad media de 72,1 años, con un seguimiento medio de 2,2 años; 15.279 (75.1%) tuvieron ERC en estadios tempranos (estadio 1 al 3a). La adherencia disminuyó en un 41,0% el riesgo de terapia de reemplazo renal (HR = 0,59; IC95% 0,41-0,85) en el grupo de bajo riesgo y en un 31,0% (HR = 0,69; IC95% 0,57-0,83) la mortalidad en el grupo de alto riesgo. CONCLUSIONES La estrategia de cuidado multidisciplinario con evaluaciones estandarizadas según estadio es efectiva en reducir el ingreso a terapia de reemplazo renal cuando se identifica al paciente en estadios tempranos y en reducir la mortalidad en estadios avanzados.