Abstract
Typhoid fever is responsible for a substantial health burden in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). New means of prevention became available with the prequalification of typhoid conjugate vaccines (TCV) by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2018. Policymakers require evidence to inform decisions about TCV. The economic burden related to typhoid fever can be considerable, both for healthcare providers and households, and should be accounted for in the decision-making process. We aimed to understand the breadth of the evidence on the cost of typhoid fever by undertaking a scoping review of the published literature. We searched scientific databases with terms referring to typhoid fever cost of illness to identify published studies for the period January 1st 2000 to May 24th 2024. We also conferred with stakeholders engaged in typhoid research to identify studies pending completion or publication. We identified 13 published studies reporting empirical data for 11 countries, most of them located in Asia. The total cost of a typhoid episode ranged from $23 in India to $884 in Indonesia (current 2022 United States Dollar [USD]). Household expenditures related to typhoid fever were characterized as catastrophic in 9 studies. We identified 5 studies pending completion or publication, which will provide evidence for 9 countries, most of them located in Africa. Alignment in study characteristics and methods would increase the usefulness of the evidence generated and facilitate cross-country and regional comparison. The gap in evidence across regions should be mitigated when studies undertaken in African countries are published. There remains a lack of evidence on the cost to treat typhoid in the context of increasing antimicrobial resistance. Decision-makers should consider the available evidence on the economic burden of typhoid, particularly as risk factors related to antimicrobial resistance and climate change increase typhoid risk. Additional studies should address typhoid illness costs, using standardized methods and accounting for the costs of antimicrobial resistance.
Funder
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
Publisher
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Reference27 articles.
1. Typhoid vaccines: WHO position paper–March 2018.;World Health Organization;Weekly Epidemiological Record No 13,2018
2. IVAC. Viewhub. Typhoid Conjugate Vaccine. Introduction & Use. Available from https://view-hub.org/vaccine/typhoid accessed on 14 February 2024.
3. Taking on Typhoid: Eliminating Typhoid Fever as a Global Health Problem.;Jessie Chen;Open Forum Infectious Diseases,2023
4. The Burden of Typhoid Fever in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Perspective.;Kim Cara Lynn;Res Rep Trop Med,2022