Leprosy services in primary health care in India: comparative economic cost analysis of two public‐health settings

OBJECTIVES: The WHO recommends inclusion of post‐exposure chemoprophylaxis with single‐dose rifampicin in national leprosy control programmes. The objective was to estimate the cost of leprosy services at primary care level in two different public‐health settings. METHODS: Ingredient‐based costing was performed in eight primary health centres (PHCs) purposively selected in the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli (DNH) and the Umbergaon block of Valsad district, Gujarat, India. All costs were bootstrapped, and to estimate the variation in total cost under uncertainty, a univariate sensitivity analysis was performed. RESULTS: The mean annual cost of providing leprosy services was USD 29 072 in the DNH PHC (95% CI: 22 125–36 020) and USD 11 082 in Umbergaon (95% CI: 8334–13 830). The single largest cost component was human resources: 79% in DNH and 83% in Umbergaon. The unit cost for screening the contact of a leprosy patient was USD 1 in DNH (95% CI: 0.8–1.2) and USD 0.3 in Umbergaon (95% CI: 0.2–0.4). In DNH, the unit cost of delivering single‐dose of rifampicin (SDR) as chemoprophylaxis for contacts was USD 2.9 (95% CI: 2.5–3.7). CONCLUSIONS: The setting with an enhanced public‐health financing system invests more in leprosy services than a setting with fewer financial resources. In terms of leprosy visits, the enhanced public‐health system is hardly more expensive than the non‐enhanced public‐health system. The unit cost of contact screening is not high, favouring its sustainability in the programme.