Cost-Effectiveness of Scaling Up Modern Family Planning Interventions in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: An Economic Modeling Analysis in Indonesia and Uganda

Cost-effectiveness of increased contraceptive coverage using family planning benefits cards compared with the standard of care for young women in Uganda

BACKGROUND

Uganda has a high population growth rate of 3%, partly due to limited access to and low usage of contraception. This study assessed the cost-effectiveness of the family planning benefits cards (FPBC) program compared to standard of care (SOC). The FPBC program was initiated to increase access to modern contraception among young women in slums in Kampala, Uganda.

METHODS

We developed a decision-analytic model (decision tree) and parameterized it using primary intervention data together with previously published data. In the base case, a sexually active woman from an urban slum, aged 18 to 30 years, was modelled over a one-year time horizon from both the modified societal and provider perspectives. The main model outcomes included the probability of unintended conception, costs, and incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) in terms of cost per unwanted pregnancy averted. Both deterministic and probabilistic sensitivity analyses were conducted to assess the robustness of the modelling results. All costs were reported in 2022 US dollars, and analyses were conducted in Microsoft Excel.

RESULTS

In the base case analysis, the FPBC was superior to the SOC in outcomes. The probability of conception was lower in the FPBC than in the SOC (0.20 vs. 0.44). The average societal and provider costs were higher in the FPBC than in the SOC, i.e., $195 vs. $164 and $193 vs. $163, respectively. The ICER comparing the FPBC to the SOC was $125 per percentage reduction in the probability of unwanted conception from the societal perspective and $121 from the provider perspective. The results were robust to sensitivity analyses.

CONCLUSION

Given Uganda's GDP per capita of $1046 in 2022, the FPBC is highly cost-effective compared to the SOC in reducing unintended pregnancies among young women in low-income settings. It can even get cheaper in the long run due to the low marginal costs of deploying additional FPBCs.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

MUREC1/7 No. 10/05-17. Registered on July 19, 2017.

Providing universal access to modern contraceptive methods: An extended cost-effectiveness analysis of meeting the demand for modern contraception in Ethiopia

Despite recent advances in access to and use of modern contraception in Ethiopia, further improvement is needed, particularly among poorer women. This extended cost-effectiveness analysis investigated the health outcomes, their distribution, and financial risk protection associated with meeting the demand for modern contraception for all Ethiopian women. We developed five Markov models with wealth quintile-specific input data to investigate the effects of meeting this demand and followed a hypothetical cohort of 1,252,000 women through their reproductive lives from ages 15-49 years. The health outcomes are reported in quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) gained and in intermediate health outcomes, such as the total number of induced abortions, unintended pregnancies, and pregnancy-related deaths averted. The economic effect of meeting the demand for modern contraception was assessed by estimating the financial risk protection benefits in terms of averted out-of-pocket payments and the reduction in the number of cases of catastrophic health expenditure by quintile. Meeting the demand for modern contraception was deemed highly cost effective, with an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of $96.60/QALY gained per woman. A total of 676,300 QALYs were gained, and approximately 1,900,000 unintended pregnancies, 250,000 induced abortions, and 9000 pregnancy-related deaths were averted over the 35-year period. Most of these gains were achieved among low-income groups. When the demand for modern contraception was met, almost 40,000 cases of catastrophic health expenditure were averted in the poorest quintile. The total governmental cost was higher in all quintiles when the demand for modern contraception was met compared to the baseline scenario, with the largest percentage increase in governmental spending in the poorest quintiles. Meeting the demand for modern contraception fulfills the priority-setting criteria established by the Ethiopian Ministry of Health and makes the Ethiopian health care system more equitable.

Cost-Effectiveness of Contraceptive Use in Indonesia after the Implementation of the National Health Insurance System

Since 2014, Indonesia has initiated to implement a national health insurance system, which included both of short- (SARC) and long-acting reversible contraceptive (LARC) into the benefit package. The aim of this study was to analyze the cost-effectiveness of contraceptive use in Indonesia after the implementation of the national health insurance in 2014-2017. A decision tree model was developed to analyze the cost-effectiveness of contraceptive use in Indonesia in 2014-2017 by comparing two strategies of pregnancy prevention: contraceptive and non-contraceptive. For contraceptive strategy, we took into account SARC and LARC. In a comparison with non-contraceptive, we calculated that the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) of SARC would be $5.18, $4.80 and $3.76 per pregnancy averted for injection, condom, and pill, respectively. For LARC, we calculated that the ICER would be $1.67 and $0.84 for implant and intrauterine device (IUD), respectively, compared with non-contraceptive. In general, the cost-effectiveness value of LARC ($1.25) was much better than SARC ($4.58). The cost of contraceptive was considered to be the most influential parameter affecting both the ICER of SARC and LARC. In conclusion, the use of LARC in Indonesia was considered to be more cost-effective than SARC since the implementation of national health insurance system. In particular, IUD yielded the greatest cost-effectiveness value, compared with other methods.