Intervention Assessment

The incidence of cancer in a particular community is 10 new cases annually per 100,000 residents. Two possible interventions are being considered to lower the cancer rate.

Intervention A is a system to further purify the community’s drinking water beyond its current state to remove potential carcinogens. Intervention A will lower the cancer rate to five new cases annually.

Intervention B is a novel vaccine that inoculates the population against cancer. While the vaccine is thought to be perfectly effective, it has an extreme side effect: subjects receiving the vaccine become extremely sleepy and cannot work or otherwise function for 1 week.

Write a word paper that addresses the following items:

• Comment on the ethical issues that must be considered with regard to the implementation of each intervention.

• All types of economic evaluations must quantify costs. For Intervention A and Intervention B, quantify all the costs involved. Think broadly, and include direct and indirect costs.

• Considering a cost-effectiveness analysis, a cost-utility analysis, and a cost-benefit analysis, discuss how the outcome measures differ among the three types of economic evaluation.

• Conduct at least one type of economic evaluation from the above paragraph. Make several assumptions and keep track of these assumptions in an appendix.

• Make your recommendation on whether to use Intervention A or Intervention B.