title: [Principles of economic evaluation in intervention programmes].
abstract: Since human and financial resources are limited there is a need to use them for justified health care projects. Cost-effectiveness is one, but not the only criterion which health care system may be asked to respect. This paper presents the principles of economic analysis as a tool of evaluation in intervention programmes. It describes the three most commonly used methods: cost-effectiveness, cost-utility and cost-benefit analysis. An overview of concepts, calculation techniques and real applications of economic evaluation are presented. A review of the literature showed, that cost-utility and cost-benefit methods are developing very fast, and that is an increasing interest in knowledge and attitudes of decision-makers towards economic evaluation.
authors.affiliation: Pracownia Epidemiologii Zagrozen Zdrowotnych Dzieci i Mlodziezy, Instytut Matki i Dziecka, Kasprzaka 17a, 01-211 Warszawa, Poland. epid@imid.med.pl
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mazur
mesh_terms: D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006296:Health Services / Q000191:economics*; D015397:Program Evaluation / Q000379:methods*