Costing health care interventions at primary health facilities in Nouna, Burkina Faso

Abstract

The main objective was to estimate sector wide disease specific cost of health care intervention at health facilities in Nouna, Burkina Faso. A step-down full costing procedure was used to estimate the costs of interventions for 33 ICD-9 diseases using the diagnosis and treatment algorithms developed by the Ministry of Health and used in the health facilities. These provide context-specific cost estimates that are important input in any economic evaluation. The study was based on four first line health facilities in northwest Burkina Faso serving a population of about 60,000 under a demographic surveillance System (DSS). This paper reports sectoral context and disease specific cost estimates of health care interventions at first line health facilities in rural Burkina Faso. Case management with hospitalization has the highest cost of US$ 27.6 and family planning is the least costly with US$ 0.51 per unit. In addition, the government and development partners contribute 58% of the total resources used at the health facilities. These intervention costs provide a valuable source of information that feeds into economic evaluations and allows comparisons from a total health perspective for sectoral resource allocation decisions.

[Afr. J.Health Sci. 2002; 9: 69-79]