We investigate whether systematic reviews of cost-effectiveness analyses of interventions in low and middle income countries are feasible and useful. To this aim, we systematically review systematic reviews of cost-effectiveness studies and systematic reviews of effectiveness studies. We find 27 systematic reviews of cost-effectiveness studies, predominantly of health interventions. We look at the methodologies employed by these reviews to summarise the results of the original studies and we look at the policy recommendations they provide. We conclude that systematic reviews of cost-effectiveness studies in developing countries are few and that their ability to provide policy recommendations is very limited. The paucity of cost-effectiveness analyses in developing countries and the difficulty to summarise the results of diverse cost-effectiveness analyses in a meaningful way are major problems. We suggest that the collection of cost data along impact evaluations and methodological development in the summary of cost-effectiveness ratios across studies constitute a more promising approach.


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Original Articles
Systematic reviews of cost-effectiveness in low and middle income countries: a review of reviews
Edoardo Masset London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UKCorrespondenceedoardo.masset@lshtm.ac.uk
, Giulia Mascagni Institute of Development Studies, Falmer, UK, Arnab Acharya Independent Consultant, DC, USA, Eva-Maria Egger International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Rome, Italy & Amrita Saha Institute of Development Studies, Falmer, UK
Edoardo Masset London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UKCorrespondenceedoardo.masset@lshtm.ac.uk
, Giulia Mascagni Institute of Development Studies, Falmer, UK, Arnab Acharya Independent Consultant, DC, USA, Eva-Maria Egger International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Rome, Italy & Amrita Saha Institute of Development Studies, Falmer, UK
, Giulia Mascagni Institute of Development Studies, Falmer, UK, Arnab Acharya Independent Consultant, DC, USA, Eva-Maria Egger International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Rome, Italy & Amrita Saha Institute of Development Studies, Falmer, UK
Pages 95-120
Received 05 Feb 2018
Accepted 06 Feb 2018
Published online: 16 Feb 2018
Original Articles
Systematic reviews of cost-effectiveness in low and middle income countries: a review of reviews
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