Generating Cost Impact Results
OVERVIEW: WHO THIS GUIDE IS FOR
Use this guide if you’re generating cost estimates with the calculator. You’ll need experience with clinical, epidemiological, or health economic data to fill in the Cost Data Input Template.
You’ll work with:
- National experts who provide local context and ensure your estimates are realistic and relevant
- Stakeholders and advocates from health ministries, treasuries, NGOs, or universities who can help you share your findings
For guidance on sharing your findings, see ‘Using cost impact results‘.
Getting started
This section of the guide is intended for individuals and teams seeking to generate country-specific estimates using the cost calculator tool. It is particularly relevant for: Senior researchers or technical leads with experience in managing clinical, epidemiological and health economic data, who can coordinate the information gathering for the ‘Cost Data Input Template’.
They will work with national experts, who can contribute contextual knowledge and help ensure the relevance and feasibility of the estimates
To help promote the findings, they might liaise with national stakeholders and advocates, including those from ministries of health or treasuries, NGOs, or academic institutions. Those people and organisations can help guide how findings are shared and used for advocacy or policymaking. For details on how to do this, see the page ‘Using cost impact results’.
Use the Cost Data Input Template: This template outlines the types of information you need to fill in for the cost calculator tool.
Understanding your data needs
Know what kind of data you need: Some data, like birth rates, can usually be found easily. Other types — like the prevalence of certain conditions — may require judgment about what the best available evidence is for your country.
Choosing high-quality data sources
Prioritise data that is:
- Specific to your country
- Focused on the target population
- Up to date
- From credible, high-quality sources
Adapt to what’s available: Some countries (like South Africa) may have strong local data. Others (like Thailand) might have gaps. In those cases, you might need to use data from nearby countries or regional studies.
Working with experts
Ask the experts: Work with experts and stakeholders to decide what sources to use and what reasonable assumptions to make. This will also be very important when you start using the data for advocacy, avoiding criticism or contradiction by experts.
Making conservative estimates
Use conservative estimates: When in doubt, take a cautious average. But also include a range of values so you can see how different assumptions might affect the results (using conservative estimates is not only more robust but also allows you to emphasise the fact when using the results for advocacy purposes)
Documenting your work
Make notes of the sources/references from which the data was obtained, as well as all your assumptions and the basis on which you made them.