Question

	The COVID-19 has caused adverse economic and health impact in many countries. Discuss how the affected countries are managing the situation in terms of the following :
8.1	Cost effective health interventions including new policies
8.2	Financing of the above interventions within the budgetary system
(total word count: minimum 1,800; maximum 2,000 excluding the word count for references)

Answer 1

Ans. -  The COVID-19 has caused adverse economic and health impact in many countries are -

• The COVID-19 epidemic is now growing exponentially.
• Its economic impact is already more severe than SARS or MERS.
• The political consequences are harder to predict, but could be significant and long-lasting.

What started as an outbreak in China near the end of 2019 has now developed globally. Last week, for the first time since the COVID-19 epidemic started, the number of new cases outside of China was greater than inside the country.

The data from many countries is not reliable due to a lack of testing capability, political expediency and the clinical characteristics, most notably a long incubation period of up to 12 days during which infected people may be asymptomatic. However, it is clear that this epidemic is growing exponentially.

Who responded are : -

1. Keeping supply chains and logistics open so that drugs, vaccines and masks are available to deal with surging demand.

2. Providing a flow of trusted information to staff. Firms should be as honest, transparent and as informed as possible.

3. Engagement in specific sectors of health and pharma in critical research. This includes diagnostic tests, research in public health and prevention, and the development of new drugs and vaccines, therapeutics and drugs for patients who have already contracted COVID-19.

It is important to contain and prepare to mitigate further outbreaks, particularly in countries with struggling or under-resourced health systems. We should work collectively to support these countries with new drugs and vaccines and we should not leave anyone behind. Because of enlightened self-interest in preventing and controlling ongoing infection and spread, but also to take an equitable approches .

Cost effective health intervention including new policies financing of the above intervention of budgetary system are - A cost-effectiveness ratio is the net cost divided by changes in health outcomes. Examples include cost per case of disease prevented or cost per death averted. However, if the net costs are negative (which means a more effective intervention is less costly), the results are reported as net cost savings. A budget allows an organization to better understand which funds can be spent on a certain project or section, and how much spending should be allotted to each. Creating a sound budget allows for more useful investments and less room for error in purchasing.

Budgeting plays an important role to achieve the objective of the organization by utilizing available resources efficiently. ... Budgeting helps to make capital and revenue resources profitable. It helps in controlling income and expenditure of a business. It allows you to save for expected and unexpected costs.

Cash Budget

The cash budget is management's approximation of cash on hand at the beginning of a budget period and the estimated cash inflows and outflows. The cash inflows may include those that result from cash sales, the sale of assets, the collection of accounts receivable, borrowing cash or stock issuance.

The Benefits of Budgeting:

• Provides You 100% Control Over Your Money.
• Let's You Track Your Financial Goals.
• Budgeting Will Open Your Eyes.
• Will Help Organize Your Spending.
• Will Help Create a Cushion for Unexpected Expenses.
• Budgeting Makes Talking About Finances Much Easier.

Economic evaluation is used to varying degrees in different countries. How widespread its use is, and the purposes for which it is used, depend to a great extent on the country’s dominant health system, whether public, social insurance or private insurance based. In developing countries, this also depends on the extent to which the country is in receipt of aid from international bodies.

economic evaluation is used in health care decision making as:

• To maximise the benefits from health care spending.
• To overcome regional variations in access.
• To contain costs and manage demand.
• To provide bargaining power with suppliers of health care products.

The most widespread is to contain costs and manage demand through a system which controls the introduction of new technologies, particularly those that are high cost technologies, through technology assessment. High cost does not necessarily mean that their unit cost is high; technologies are seen as expensive if the overall cost of using them in their target patient population is high. As a result, technology assessment has been dominated by pharmaceuticals. Many countries now use some form of economic evaluation in deciding whether their national health systems should fund particular pharmaceutical products. Broadly, the issue is whether the system will reimburse patients or service providers if they use a drug.