Journal of Infectious Diseases & Therapy
Open Access

Abstract

Statement of the Problem: Invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae remains a global health problem and imposes a great burden on society and health care system. Aim: The objective of this study was to estimate the medical cost of hospitalizations due to IPD (pneumonia and meningitis) among children under 15 year old in Tunisia, in an effort to provide sufficient data which can help policy makers to assess the need for the vaccine. Methodology: A prospective multicenter study was conducted in 15 pediatric departments across different socio-economic areas of Tunisia from June 2014 to May 2015. All children under 15 years old who were hospitalized for pneumococcal pneumonia or confirmed bacterial meningitis were enrolled. A case report form was completed for every eligible case. Activity based costing method was used to estimate the hospital cost. Data entry and statistical analysis were conducted using SPSS, version 20.0. Findings: During the study period, 727 children were hospitalized for pneumococcal pneumonia and 60 children were hospitalized for bacterial meningitis, among them 21(35%) had confirmed pneumococcal meningitis. The median hospital cost for pneumococcal pneumonia was 353.910 TD and it was 1680.632 TD for pneumococcal meningitis. By overall data extrapolation, we estimated that nearly 1091 hospitalizations for pneumococcal pneumonia and 69 hospitalizations for pneumococcal meningitis occur each year in Tunisian children under 15 years of age, incurring total costs of 502 079.408 TD. Conclusion: The economic burden of pneumococcal infections seems to be major in Tunisia, where a safe and effective vaccine is available but has not yet been introduced to immunization schedules.

Biography

Email: bensalah.arwa@yahoo.fr