Boshen Jiao, former postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Global Health and Population, CHDS faculty Stéphane Verguet, and colleagues recently published a study in PLOS Medicine that shows that childhood vaccines can prevent millions of families in low- and middle-income countries from falling into medical poverty. The study estimated the financial risk protection benefits generated by childhood vaccines.
Using projections of vaccine-preventable disease cases, country-specific data on care-seeking, medical and nonmedical costs, and simulated household consumption by wealth quintile, the investigators quantified the number of cases of catastrophic health expenditure (CHE) that are averted when children are vaccinated. The study included 52 Gavi-eligible countries.
Across individuals vaccinated between 2000 and 2030, vaccines against hepatitis B, Haemophilus influenzae type B, rotavirus, measles, and Streptococcus pneumoniae were estimated to avert approximately 200 million CHE cases. Notably, nearly half of these averted CHE cases occur among the poorest households, underscoring the benefits of vaccination programs to this income group. The study highlighted that vaccines can be dual-purpose investments that save lives and protect households from poverty.
Jiao is currently an Assistant Professor of Pharmaceutical & Health Economics at the USC Mann School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences.
Learn more: Read the full publication, Financial Risk Protection from Vaccines in 52 Gavi-Eligible Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Modeling Study
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