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)
