Health Economic Publications From the Middle East and North Africa Region: A Scoping Review of the Volume and Methods of Research

Zsombor Zrubka; Omar Rashdan; László Gulácsi

doi:10.36401/JQSH-20-4

Health Economic Publications From the Middle East and North Africa Region: A Scoping Review of the Volume and Methods of Research

Glob J Qual Saf Healthc. 2020 Jun 8;3(2):44-54. doi: 10.36401/JQSH-20-4. eCollection 2020 May.

Authors

Zsombor Zrubka¹, Omar Rashdan², László Gulácsi¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Health Economics, Corvinus University of Budapest, Budapest, Hungary.
² Doctoral School of Business and Management, Corvinus University of Budapest, Budapest, Hungary.

Abstract

Introduction: We reviewed the scope of countries, diseases, technologies, and methods involved in the health economic evaluations published in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

Methods: PRISMA guidelines were followed. A PubMed search was conducted up to December 15, 2019. English language full-text articles were included if they reported original research on humans; involved the local population from Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, or Yemen; reported costs; and involved a full or partial health economic analysis comparing alternative health technologies. Data on publication year, country of origin, disease area according to ICD-10, type of health technology, and applied methods were extracted.

Results: From 105 eligible articles, 57.1% were published between 2015 and 2019. Egypt (30.5%) and Saudi Arabia (27.6%) were the most frequently involved countries. Infectious diseases were most often studied (27.6%). The assessed technology was a system (eg, infection control, screening, coverage/access, hospital management, or healthcare delivery program) in 41.9% of studies. Cost-utility analysis (CUA) was the most frequent method (29.5%) and was growing rapidly. Health system perspective was adopted in 52.4% of studies, whereas societal perspective was scarce (8.6%). The majority of studies (46.7%) were published in Scimago Q1 journals. Over half of the studies (54.2%) did not report or did not have a funding source.

Conclusions: From 2015, health economic analysis became more frequent in the MENA region, providing input to value-based health policy and financing. For further growth, in addition to the development of the institutional background, valid and more standardized local cost and outcome data should be available.

Keywords: Middle East and North Africa; budget impact; cost; cost benefit; cost minimization; cost utility; cost-effectiveness; economic evaluation; health economics; pharmacoeconomics; scoping review; systematic review.

Publication types

Review

Grants and funding

Source of support: This publication was supported by the Higher Education Institutional Excellence Program of the Ministry of Ministry for Innovation and Technology in the framework of the 'Financial and Public Services' research project (NKFIH-1163-10/2019) at the Corvinus University of Budapest. László Gulácsi has received consultancy and lecturing fees from Astellas, BMS, Celltrion, Egis Pharmaceuticals, GSK, Hikma, Hospira, Lilly Hungaria Ltd, MSD Hungary, Pfizer, Roche, Sandoz, and UCB.