Challenges in funding diabetes care: a health economic perspective

Abstract

Diabetes mellitus – especially Type 2 diabetes – represents a major threat to public health in nearly all countries worldwide. The number of patients with diabetes is expected to rise to over 438 million by the year 2030. As healthcare resources are considered limited, there is a need for prioritization among the different, existing therapeutic options available for treating or preventing diseases in a given healthcare system. This article will highlight five particular challenges for evaluating complex therapeutic approaches in diabetes care, introducing the health economic fundamentals of cost–effectiveness assessment and the different concepts to determine a cost–effectiveness threshold, with a special focus on the situation in low- and middle-income countries.

Keywords::

• ceiling ratio
• cost–effectiveness
• cost of illness
• diabetes mellitus
• health economics
• health technology assessment
• low- and middle-income countries

Financial & competing interests disclosure

The author has no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.