Cost-effectiveness analysis of the available strategies for diagnosing malaria in outpatient clinics in Zambia

Table 1 Parameter assumptions and data sources

Description	Assumption/Parameter	Source
Exchange rate	1 USD = ZMK4512.51 (All costs are presented in US$)	http://www.oanda.com (average March to November 2005)
Discount rate	5%	MOH Planning Unit
Overhead costs	15% (Of district recurrent expenditure)	District Health Office (DHO)
Personnel costs	Gross earnings (Collected from central level, allocated based on malaria utilisation)	MOH/DHO
Cost of drugs and tests
AL	2.45 USD	NMCC, (weighted average cost per person/course including storage and distribution costs).
SP	0.18 USD
Quinine	0.84 USD
RDT	1.50 USD	NMCC (excludes personnel and capital costs).
Microscopy	1.00 USD
Laboratory utilisation	60%	Expert opinion
Sensitivity of the diagnostic techniques
Clinical	100%, 90%	Current study data from clinical sites and published literature [13, 14].
Microscopy	91%	Colin et al 2002 [15]
RDTs	95.4%	Guthman et al 2002 [16] Mendiratta et al 2006 [17].
Malaria prevalence by district*
Chingola	18.8%	NMCC 2005 [9]
Chongwe	22.0%	NMCC 2005 [9]
Kalomo	26.3%	NMCC 2004
Kabwe	10.6%	NMCC 2005 [9]

The malaria prevalence above refers to the proportion of people with detectable malaria parasites in their peripheral blood, approximated from the average annual parasite prevalence surveys among the 2–9 years old in each district.

ISSN: 1478-7547