The Burden of Dengue Illness and Its Economics Costs in the Americas: A Review on the Most Affected Countries

Abstract

According to the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) reports, the annual average number of dengue cases in the Americas has been 1,579,658 in the last 8 years (2010 – 2017), affecting the population ’ s welfare. The high level in dengue cases does not only have an impact from an epidemiological perspective but also from an economical perspective as the treatment cost that must be borne. The aim of this chapter is to review the situation as reported in the American countries with the highest number of cases, focusing on the burden of the disease (measured in DALYs and number of cases) and its total treatment cost, which includes direct (medical and non-medical) costs and indirect costs. We calcu- late the total treatment cost per DALY for the epidemic year (2015). The results show that Mexico has the highest cost per DALY (US$ 17,703) followed by Brazil (US$ 11,218), Colombia (US$ 4,540), and the Dominican Republic (US$ 1,157). Additionally, after adjusting for total health expenditure, we found all the countries exhibit a similar share of total treatment cost over health expenditure (0.16% in average).