A Protocol for a Systematic Review of Economic Evaluation Studies Conducted on Influenza and Recent Pandemic Prevention and Control

Abstract

Background: The COVID-19, illness caused by a novel coronavirus, is the cause of an outbreak of respiratory illness in Wuhan, Hubei Province China beginning in 31 December 2019. The direct and indirect impacts of the pandemic and the public health measures taken to prevent the distribution of the pandemic on mortality and morbidity, and social and economic status of the community are enormous. The public health measures against the pandemic such as school closure, unemployment and business shutdown incur cost on the society; reduce the provision and quality of health services due to the diversion of resource allocation to COVID-19 response (prevention and control) activities; result in negative influence on the healthcare seeking behavior of the society; and increase cost of seeking healthcare due to reduced global pharmaceutical supply chain. Evidence-based decision is crucial to prevent and manage the catastrophic impact of a pandemic and its public health measures. The aim of this review is to systematically review economic evaluation of interventions to respond to coronavirus pandemics in the global perspective. We included researches on influenza pandemic and COVID-19 as there are only few studies conducted in COVID-19.Method: A full and partial economic analysis conducted on influenza and COVID-19 pandemic published in English language between 2012 and 2020 will be eligible. Studies with and without comparators will be included. We will build an exhaustive database search strategy in the global health cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) registry, PubMed, African Journals online and Elsevier for relevant studies. We will do a hand-searching of cited research and bibliographies of all identified relevant studies. Two authors will independently select potentially eligible titles and abstracts, extract data from selected studies using structured collection form after a pre-test and do a risk of bias assessment. Third author will be involved if there is disagreement between the two. If variation of extracted data between the reviewers is observed, the phase will be repeated, and if discrepancies between data extractors continued, third reviewer will be involved. We will use a narrative summary and tables to summarize the result and characteristics of eligible studies. In addition, attempts will be made to change reports in case and death averted to disability life year averted (DALY) averted.Discussion: Unless a careful decision is made to control a pandemic; the health, economy, social, and political aspect of countries will be in impacted. Public health measures that are implemented to respond to a pandemic should be cost-effective. This review will systematically analyze economic evaluation studies conducted on influenza and COVID-19 pandemics and synthesize evidence for public health measures. This review will further identify existing gaps in research for more studies. Systematic review registration: PROSPERO: CRD42020192384