Economic evaluation of health education programs: The case of adolescent reproductive health in Vietnam

Objectives: To examine the cost-effectiveness of three mutually exclusive reproductive health interventions (named level A, B and C) implemented in Chi Linh for adolescents. Methods: This research involved the standard techniques of cost-utility analysis. A Markov state-transition model was used to show how a hypothetical cohort of 100,000 adolescents moved between 11 different health states over time, beginning at the year the intervention commenced (2011) and continuing in 3-month increments. The uncertainty of model input parameters was examined in probabilistic sensitivity analyses. Results: The deterministic analysis and uncertainty analysis revealed that implementing intervention level B compared to level A was highly cost effective. The ICER of intervention level B in relation to level A was USD 915/QALY gained. Implementing intervention level C compared to level B was cost-effective. The ICER of intervention level C over level B was USD 1911/QALY gained. Conclusions: If the decision makers including the intervention team, Ministry of Health and Ministry of Education and Training, change their current practice of educating adolescents on reproductive health to the best option, costs would be incurred at the lowest amount and health benefits would be brought back to the highest level.