E evaluation

    A district health board (DHB) has introduced a multidisciplinary community-based childhood obesity intervention called Whanau Pakari – see Anderson reference below. The DHB has signalled its interest in some form of economic evaluation of the Whanau Pakari programme. They would like to compare it to the previous model of care, which was GP referral to Green Prescription and visits to a hospital-based paediatrician. They have provided you with the Anderson reference and have said the outcomes data up to 12 months after enrolment in these obesity programmes will be made available to you. You are unsure what cost data was collected. The budget for this evaluation is likely to be small. Given this limited information, they have asked you whether you think a cost-effectiveness, cost-utility or cost-benefit analysis would be most appropriate. Clearly state your reasons for the method you recommend. ( 6 marks) What are the advantages and disadvantages of each of the above three approaches, and the challenges in economic evaluation of public health interventions in obese paediatric populations in general? ( 14 marks)