ArticlePLoS medicine2021
Health and economic benefits of achieving hepatitis C virus elimination in Pakistan: A modelling study and economic analysis.
Article in PLoS medicine, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 12 papers.
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Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 16 citations in OpenAlex.
- Delivering Effective Hepatitis C Virus Treatment in an Embedded Primary Care Setting Within a Tertiary Care Hospital in Karachi, Pakistan.Journal of viral hepatitis · 2026Article
- The Impact of Hepatitis C and Socio-Demographic Variables on Health-Related Quality of Life in Pakistan: Cross-Sectional Study.Journal of viral hepatitis · 2026Article
- Cost-effectiveness and return on investment of hepatitis C virus elimination in China: A modelling study.Clinical and molecular hepatology · 2025Article
- Hepatitis C virus transmission among people who inject drugs in the Middle East and North Africa: mathematical modeling analyses of incidence and intervention impact.EClinicalMedicine · 2025Article
- Article
- Effects and Costs of Hepatitis C Virus Elimination for the Whole Population in China: A Modelling Study.PharmacoEconomics · 2024Article
- Effect of direct-acting antivirals on disease burden of hepatitis C virus infection in South Korea in 2007-2021: a nationwide, multicentre, retrospective cohort study.EClinicalMedicine · 2024Article
- Correction: Health and economic benefits of achieving hepatitis C virus elimination in Pakistan: A modelling study and economic analysis.PLoS medicine · 2024Article
- Insights from a national survey in 2021 and from modelling on progress towards hepatitis C virus elimination in the country of Georgia since 2015.Euro surveillance : bulletin Europeen sur les maladies transmissibles = European communicable disease bulletin · 2023Article
- Review
- Article
- Characterizing trends and associations for hepatitis C virus antibody prevalence in the Middle East and North Africa: meta-regression analyses.Scientific reports · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundModelling suggests that achieving the WHO incidence target for hepatitis C virus (HCV) elimination in Pakistan could cost US$3.87 billion over 2018 to 2030. However, the economic benefits from integrating services or improving productivity were not included. METHODS AND
findingsWe adapt a HCV transmission model for Pakistan to estimate the impact, costs, and cost-effectiveness of achieving HCV elimination (reducing annual HCV incidence by 80% by 2030) with stand-alone service delivery, or partially integrating one-third of initial HCV testing into existing healthcare services. We estimate the net economic benefits by comparing the required investment in screening, treatment, and healthcare management to the economic productivity gains from reduced HCV-attributable absenteeism, presenteeism, and premature deaths. We also calculate the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) per disability-adjusted life year (DALY) averted for HCV elimination versus maintaining current levels of HCV treatment. This is compared to an opportunity cost-based willingness-to-pay threshold for Pakistan (US$148 to US$198/DALY). Compared to existing levels of treatment, scaling up screening and treatment to achieve HCV elimination in Pakistan averts 5.57 (95% uncertainty interval (UI) 3.80 to 8.22) million DALYs and 333,000 (219,000 to 509,000) HCV-related deaths over 2018 to 2030. If HCV testing is partially integrated, this scale-up requires an investment of US$1.45 (1.32 to 1.60) billion but will result in US$1.30 (0.94 to 1.72) billion in improved economic productivity over 2018 to 2030. This elimination strategy is highly cost-effective (ICER = US$29 per DALY averted) by 2030, with it becoming cost-saving by 2031 and having a net economic benefit of US$9.10 (95% UI 6.54 to 11.99) billion by 2050. Limitations include uncertainty around what level of integration is possible within existing primary healthcare services as well as a lack of Pakistan-specific data on disease-related healthcare management costs or productivity losses due to HCV.
conclusionsInvestment in HCV elimination can bring about substantial societal health and economic benefits for Pakistan.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.