Impacts of the Egyptian national screening and treatment programme for viral hepatitis C: A cost‐effectiveness model

Abstract

AbstractBackground & AimsEgypt used to have one of the highest prevalences of HCV infection worldwide. The Egyptian Ministry of Health launched a national campaign for the detection and management of HCV to reduce its burden. This study aims to carry out a cost‐effectiveness analysis to evaluate the costs and benefits of the Egyptian national screening and treatment programme.MethodsA disease burden and economic impact model was populated with the Egyptian national screening and treatment programme data to assess direct medical costs, health effects measured in disability‐adjusted life years and the incremental cost‐effectiveness ratio. The scenario was compared to a historical base case, which assumed that no programme had been conducted.ResultsTotal number of viremic cases is expected to decrease in 2030 by 86% under the national screening and treatment programme, versus by 41% under the historical base case. Annual discounted direct medical costs are expected to decrease from $178 million in 2018 to $81 million by 2030 under the historical base case, while annual direct medical costs are estimated to have peaked in 2019 at $312 million before declining to $55 million by 2030 under the national screening and treatment programme. Under the programme, annual disability‐adjusted life years are expected to decline to 127 647 by 2030, leading to 883 333 cumulative disability‐adjusted life years averted over 2018–2030.ConclusionsThe national screening and treatment programme is highly cost‐effective by the year 2021, cost‐saving by 2029 and expected to save about $35 million in direct costs and $4705 million in indirect costs by 2030.