ArticleHealth economics review2026
The role of economic evaluation in public health emergency management of disease outbreaks in Africa: a qualitative research.
Article in Health economics review, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundRecurrent disease outbreaks impose severe health and economic burdens on Africa, exposing critical gaps in public health emergency management (PHEM). Despite growing recognition of its value, economic evaluation (EE) remains largely absent from PHEM practice on the continent. This study aims to explore the role of EE in public health emergency management and assess its potential to strengthen health security in Africa, with a focus on the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC).
methodsA qualitative research design was employed, using in-person Key Informant Interviews (KIIs) with 12 purposively selected Africa CDC division heads and senior technical advisors between 15 March and 15 April 2023. Thematic analysis was conducted following the framework of Braun and Clarke (2006), with themes derived inductively from the interview data. A logic modelling framework was applied as a complementary tool to visualise EE's causal chain across the four PHEM phases. Supplementary review of Africa CDC strategic documents, policy frameworks, and programme guidelines was undertaken to contextualise and triangulate the findings.
resultsFour themes emerged inductively from the analysis. First, key informants unanimously recognised EE as a critical but underutilised tool across the full PHEM cycle. Second, participants identified a concrete EE research agenda including return-on-investment analyses for preparedness, cost-effectiveness of diagnostic infrastructure, and health budget compliance monitoring. Third, significant barriers to EE integration were identified - principally a shortage of trained health economists, limited financial resources, and inadequate familiarity with health economics among decision-makers - alongside strategic opportunities presented by Africa CDC's institutional positioning. Fourth, key informants framed EE as both a technical decision-support tool and a political communication instrument for influencing high-level policymakers.
conclusionsMainstreaming EE into PHEM - through investment in health economics capacity, standardised methodologies, and institutionalised evidence use - can optimise the allocation of limited resources across preparedness, response, and recovery. Africa CDC is strategically positioned to lead this agenda continentally.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.