Health Financing and Economics

We aim to empower actors and increase accountability, transparency and responsiveness in health systems in support of progress towards financial protection as part of universal health coverage (UHC).

About

Health economics

Quantities and unit prices (cost inputs)

WHO-CHOICE uses a health sector perspective for costing, including overhead costs such as programme and training costs as well as patient level service delivery costs. The methodology used is a “bottom up” or “ingredients based” approach, whereby each resource required for the intervention is identified and valued.

The following menu leads to tables listing prices and other relevant information for cost analysis:

Health service delivery costs

Unit cost values for primary and secondary health care services in each member state, expressed both in international dollars, USD and local currency units for year 2010.

Prices of programme cost inputs

Tables listing the ingredients and prices for local (non-traded) goods used in estimating programme costs.

Prices for traded items

Tables listing the prices used for tradable goods. These items are used in estimating programme costs.

Assumptions on quantities of resources used

Tables listing the standardized list of assumptions on resource use for programme costs of health interventions.

Price multiplier for different coverage levels

A table listing the costs of shipping and handling for traded goods for different levels of population coverage.

Health service delivery costs

Through the WHO-CHOICE project, WHO has estimated unit cost values for service delivery at country and regional level. A database is available of estimated costs that, in principle, can be thought of as 'average' values of unit costs for the country, based on specific assumptions regarding the organization of health services and operational capacity. Estimates are differentiated for levels of care, but not for different levels of population coverage.

The table on Inpatient Unit Costs presents the estimated cost per hospital bed-day. These estimates represent the "hotel" component of hospital costs, i.e., excluding the cost of drugs and diagnostic tests but including costs such as personnel, capital and food costs.

The table on Outpatient Unit Costs presents the estimated cost per outpatient visit, and include all cost components except drugs and diagnostics. Estimates were originally estimated in international dollars, local currency units and US$, for base-years 2007 and 2008. Estimates have since been updated to 2010 international dollars, local currency units and US$, with 95% confidence intervals.

Please contact the WHO-CHOICE team at whochoice@who.int for more information.

Documents

12 February 2021

WHO-CHOICE estimates of cost for inpatient and outpatient health service delivery

1 July 2011

Note on the Methodology used to predict Unit Costs for Patient Services WHO-CHOICE 2011

1 July 2011

Estimation of unit costs for general health services: Updated WHO-CHOICE estimates

Downloads

WHO-CHOICE unit cost estimates for service delivery - Estimation file

Prices of local (non-traded) goods

Information on prices for local, non-traded goods, is available for each WHO sub-region. Non-traded goods are all those which cannot be internationally traded, thus must be sourced locally, for example human resources.

Price categories

Personnel costs for the following categories
- Administration
- Finance
- Health personnel
- Law enforcement
- Computing
- Transport
- Logistics
- Media
- Maintenance
- Buildings

Media operational costs, at the national province and district level
- Television
- Radio
- Newspaper
- Wall posters
- Flyers/leaflets
Vehicle operating costs
Utility prices
Rental prices
Per diem and travel allowances
Capital costs of buildings

Prices used for tradable goods in WHO-CHOICE

Table 1: Global Prices and Useful Lives for Capital Goods

Table 2: Global Prices for Other (recurrent)Tradable Goods

Table 1: Prices and useful lives of tradable capital goods


Item	Price Used (2000 International $)	Average of Reported Useful Lives. For more information, see Table 4
4WDs	Varies by Region*	9
Air conditioner	$682.21	9.3
Car	Varies by Region*	7.3
Chairs	$161.60	6.5
Cold boxes	$164.00	5.7
Cold rooms and freezer rooms	Varies by Region*	13.6
Computer	$1,581.26	5.4
Cupboard	$249.74	7.9
Desks	$179.23	7.9
Fax	$494.46	6.3
Freezer Truck	Varies by Region	6
Freezer Van	Varies by Region	8
Freezers	$301.44	7
Motorbikes	Varies by Region*	7.1
Packaging equipment	Varies by Region*	6.4
Photocopier	$781.80	7.3
Printer	$312.85	5.4
Refrigerators	$702.11	8.4
Standby Generator	$750.00	7.7
Telephone	$42.92	7.9
Television	$316.70	8.4
Temperature monitors	$396.50	6.1
Trucks	Varies by Region*	11
Typewriter	$220.17	7.8
Vacuum cleaner	$173.35	4.9
Video	$170.95	8.3
Voltage stabilisers	$322.93	5.8
* See Table 3: Prices of Select Capital Goods by Region

Also listed in Table 1 are the useful lives for capital goods as reported by expert costing teams from the countries listed.

Table 2 : Prices of other (recurrent) tradable goods

Item	Unit Cost (International $)
Paper (plain)	$14.44
Diskettes	$1.50
Pencils	$0.07
Pens	$0.81
Pencil erasers	$0.54
Envelopes (small)	$0.06
Envelopes (medium)	$0.21
Envelopes (manila)	$0.23
Notebook (100 Pages)	$4.35
Stapler	$10.89
Staples	$1.65
Folders	$0.42
Document Trays	$3.61
Black ink printer cartridge	$112.80
Clips (butterfly-style)	$0.38
Glue	$0.01
Liquid paper	$2.42
Reading Lamp	$62.24
Postage	$0.36
Filing folders	$1.02
Calculator	$80.31

Assumptions on quantities of resources use

The following lists the estimated amount of resources consumed per full-time equivalent of persons working at the national or district level. The number reflects the amount used per year. For example, one full-time staff is assumed to use 2 reams of paper per year, and 8 square meters of office space. Utilities are consumed in the units listed below. Some quantities were estimated as a percentage of total costs.

Assumptions for Resource Use per person employed in intervention:

Materials and Supplies

paper (reams): 2
diskette: 5
pencils: 12
pens: 12
rubbers: 12
envelope(s): 30
note books: 6
staplers: 1
staples (box of 500): 1
folders: 10
document trays: 1
black ink print catridge: 0.25
clips: 20
glue: 4
correction fluid: 4
reading lamps: 1
postage stamps: 50
file pockets: 50
calculator: 1

Maintenance

Vehicles (service per km): 10000
Motorcycle/Moped (service per km): 5000
Building: 5% of annual costs
Computer: 5% of annual costs
Printer: 5% of annual costs
Photocopier: 5% of annual costs
Voltage Stabiliser: 5% of annual costs
TV and VCR: 5% of annual costs
Temperature monitoring: 5% of annual costs
Freezers: 5% of annual costs
Refrigerators: 5% of annual costs
Cold Room: 5% of annual costs
Cold Boxes: 5% of annual costs
Standby Generator: 5% of annual costs
Vacuum Cleaner: 5% of annual costs

Equipment

Computer: 0.5
Printer: 0.25
Photocopier: 0.125
Telephone: 0.5
Voltage stabiliser: 0.125
Standby generator: 0.125
Vacuum Cleaner: 1
Fax: 0.125

Office space (square meters)

per person FTE: 8

Utilities

Electricity (64 KW per 3 people per month): 21.3
10 m3 per 3 people per month): 3.3
Telephone (2 calls per person per day): 2

Variable

Typerwriter: 1 (included for AFRO D. AFRO E, AMRO D, SEARO D)
Air Conditioner: 0.125 (included for all regions)

Price multiplier for different coverage levels

The figures listed below represent the percent mark-up of traded goods due to transportation costs. For example, in AFRO D at a population coverage level of 80%, the mark-up is 1.455, or 45.5% above the international price for tradable goods.

Price multiplier for different coverage levels :*
Region Name	Base CIF/FOB Ratio**	50% Coverage	80% Coverage	95% Coverage	100% Coverage

AFRO D	1.44	1.451	1.455	1.459	1.463
AFRO E	1.43	1.445	1.45	1.455	1.46
AMRO A	1.18	1.19	1.196	1.2	1.213
AMRO B	1.27	1.277	1.277	1.28	1.284
AMRO D	1.35	1.354	1.36	1.365	1.371
EMRO B	1.29	1.291	1.293	1.298	1.307
EMRO D	1.37	1.38	1.386	1.169	1.173
EURO A	1.16	1.165	1.168	1.169	1.173
EURO B	1.22	1.224	1.226	1.228	1.23
EURO C	1.24	1.251	1.252	1.261	1.271
SEARO B	1.34	1.346	1.351	1.357	1.359
SEARO D	1.25	1.25	1.253	1.255	1.257
WPRO A	1.16	1.169	1.172	1.173	1.182
WPRO B	1.3	1.301	1.303	1.305	1.307

* indicating the costs of transportation of traded good to final destination.
** CIF: Cost, Insurance and Freight - A trade term requiring the seller to arrange for the carriage of goods by sea to a port of destination, and provide the buyer with the documents necessary to obtain the goods from the carrier
FOB: Free on Board - A trade term requiring the seller to deliver goods on board a vessel designated by the buyer. The seller fulfills his obligations to deliver when the goods have passed over the ship's rail.

Health Topics

Health systems

Health financing

Other

Universal health coverage

If you have a query or feedback please contact

whochoice@who.int

Health economics

Section navigation