Economics of prevention knowledge synthesis

Health economic evaluations assess the costs and consequences of policies, programs and interventions and aim to inform decision makers on how to allocate limited resources efficiently. Health economics also uses various techniques to inform the equity impact of health policies.

The findings of this knowledge synthesis may be useful for policy makers in supporting and commissioning the most appropriate type of health economic evaluation to meet their needs to inform decision making and advocate for investment in prevention.

What did we do?

We held two policy dialogues bringing together Prevention Centre policy partners with researchers to identify key evidence gaps and needs. We then synthesised knowledge gained across 20 Prevention Centre projects conducted since 2013 that had a health economics component, plus relevant findings from several Centres of Research Excellence who are members of CERI.

What did we find?

A synthesis of the findings produced the following insights for policy.

1. Preventive health interventions are likely cost-effective but broader economic evidence is needed
2. Integrating economics into dynamic simulation models is challenging
3. Data to inform economic analyses – there is not enough of it!
4. There are health economics capacity limitations.

Acknowledgements

Thank you to our policy partners from Cancer Council SA, Cancer Council QLD, NSW Ministry of Health, Queensland Department of Health, Tasmanian Department of Health, VicHealth, Victorian Department of Health and Government of Western Australia Department of Health who contributed their knowledge and expertise to this knowledge synthesis.

We thank the members from CERI who contributed to this synthesis of knowledge:

• Food Retail Environments for Health (REFRESH)
• Translating Early Prevention of Obesity in Childhood (EPOCH-Translate)
• National Centre of Implementation Science (NCOIS)
• Tobacco Endgame
• Prevention of Falls Injuries
• Women’s Health in Reproductive Life (CRE-WHiRL)
• Women and Non-communicable diseases: Prevention and Detection (CRE-WaND)
• Healthy Food, Healthy People, Healthy Planet
• Healthy Housing