On 11-15 November 2019, HEARD is offering a training workshop on applied economic evaluation, with a focus on the evaluation of cost, cost-effectiveness analysis, and related skills.  Examples and data from several applied studies will be used to train participants to estimate program costs and to conduct cost-outcomes and cost-effectiveness analysis. The course will include both lectures and hands-on problem and analyses.

WHY ARE ECONOMIC EVALUATIONS IMPORTANT? Two questions immediately arise as part of economic evaluations of public health interventions:  (1) what is/was the impact of the intervention in specific situations; and (2) what are/were the costs, and to whom, of implementing the intervention? In some situations, economic evaluation activities focus mainly on identifying impacts of interventions.  In other situations, economic evaluation activities focus mainly on understanding costs.  These two topics are combined for evaluating the cost-effectiveness of health interventions, programs, and policies.  Each topic, costs and effectiveness, requires analysts to have a distinct set of skills.

A SHORT-COURSE FOCUSING PRIMARILY ON APPLIED SKILLS FOR EVALUATING COSTS: From our experience, applied researchers, new graduates from universities, government staff, and professional health economists often do not have adequate skills and experience for evaluating/estimating the costs of public health interventions in real-world evaluation contexts.  In addition, because multiple approaches to estimating intervention costs could be followed depending on the situation, evaluating the costs of interventions involves more creativity and decision-making along the way by the analyst(s) than typically recognised. A crucial aspect of such analysis involves the actual collection of information and data.  Understanding how to develop, access, and acquire costing information is as important as understanding economic concepts and theory.

APPROACH: The course will include both lectures and hands-on analyses. Each day participants will learn and apply basic skills by completing hands-on costing analyses in small groups. Each participant will receive electronic copies of all course materials at the beginning of the course.

COURSE LENGTH:  The course length is five days.

COURSE STRUCTURE: This course will cover basic skills needed for evaluating costs of a range of public health interventions.  Each day, participants will apply these skills by completing hands-on costing analyses in small groups.  Morning sessions will involve presentations and application of new concepts.  Afternoon session will typically involve additional applied case studies to be completed by students in small groups.  Each type of costing study will be based on actual analyses completed by the instructors.

SKILLS:  By the end of the course, participants will be able to:

  • Be equipped with practical skills for   evaluating costs.
  • Evaluate the costs and effectiveness of public health interventions (cost-effective analysis).

FACILITATOR: Professor Bruce Larson, Department of Global Health, Boston University School of Public Health

Professor Larson is an applied economist in the Department of Global Health at Boston University. He has undertaken research in 25 countries over the past 30 years. His research has focused on economic evaluations of public health programs and interventions in clinical and community settings. Most of this evaluation work has been based on primary data collected in collaboration with colleagues and institutions in the country of focus (Kenya Medical Research Institute/ Walter Reed Project, the Health Economics and Epidemiology Office of the University of Witwatersrand, and the Zambia Centre for Applied Health Research and Development). Notable evaluations conducted include; the impacts of HIV treatment on labour productivity, costs and usefulness of point-of-care technologies, costs of HIV care and treatment, and improving delivery of PMTCT.

WORKSHOP DETAILS

Venue: University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa

Cost: R8500 per person. Cost includes course fees and refreshments daily.

*Get 5% off workshop cost for early birth registration and payment by 31 August 2019

Workshop dates:  11-15 November 2019

Registration closing date:   1 November 2019

General queries: Nosipho Mngoma HEARD@ukzn.ac.za

NOTE: This is a highly competitive workshop so seats are limited. Once you have submitted the completed the registration form, we will contact you with banking details for payment.

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