Evaluation of Intervention Impact on Health Inequality for Resource Allocation
This method estimates how public health interventions affect health inequality and total health using existing aggregate data. It helps decision-makers understand whether an intervention reduces health disparities, improves overall health, or both, especially when allocating resources.
At a glance
Use when
Prioritizing public health interventions with equity goals; conducting economic evaluations where health inequality impact is relevant
Avoid when
Detailed individual-level distributional data is available and feasible to use; when non-linear or complex interaction effects dominate
Inputs
Intervention costs, QALYs, target population characteristics, evidence on distribution by age, gender, and deprivation, baseline health distribution, inequality aversion parameter
Outputs
Incremental QALYs by socioeconomic group, summary measures of health inequality, health equity impact plane, combined measure of health and equity value
How it works
A simplified distributional cost-effectiveness analysis (DCEA) using aggregate data from NICE public health guidance to estimate socioeconomic distribution of incremental QALYs, health opportunity costs, and baseline health. It incorporates inequality aversion parameters from population surveys to combine health inequality and total health impacts into a single value metric. Summary inequality measures and a health equity impact plane are used to present results.
- HTA domains
- Clinical Effectiveness, Costs & Economic Evaluation, Patient and Social Aspects
- Assumptions
- Socioeconomic distribution of effects can be approximated from aggregate data; health opportunity costs vary by deprivation; inequality aversion is constant across population
- Strengths
- Uses existing aggregate data; applicable to routine economic evaluations; explicitly incorporates health equity; provides visual and quantitative outputs for decision-making
- Limitations
- Relies on proxy data for distributional effects; limited granularity compared to individual-level data; assumes linearity in deprivation gradients
- Also known as
- Simplified DCEA, Distributional Cost-Effectiveness Analysis for Resource Allocation
Questions this answers
- › Does the intervention reduce health inequality?
- › Does the intervention improve total population health?
- › What is the trade-off between health gains and inequality reduction?
- › How does the intervention perform across socioeconomic groups?
- › What is the combined value of health gains and inequality reduction?
- › How should interventions be prioritized when reducing health inequality is a policy goal?
References & sources
Similar by meaning
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