Department of Community Medicine, School of Medical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Kubang Kerian, Malaysia.
Department of Medical Microbiology and Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Malaysia.
Int J Health Plann Manage. 2019 Jan;34(1):e817-e823. doi: 10.1002/hpm.2696. Epub 2018 Oct 25.
Leptospirosis is an endemic disease in Malaysia. Despite the increasing incidence rate, knowledge on the economic assessment of preventing leptospirosis is still limited. This paper introduces the willingness-to-contribute (WTC) method for estimating the economic benefit of preventing leptospirosis. A cross-sectional study using the WTC method was applied to measure how much time respondents in Kelantan were willing to contribute toward preventing leptospirosis. Study respondents were wet market traders aged 18 years old and above who were fluent in the Malay language. The average WTC value was multiplied by the population of Kelantan to derive the monetary value of preventing leptospirosis. Two hundred and fifty respondents participated in the study. The mean time contribution was 6.68 hours (SD9.01) per month. The average WTC corresponded to a monthly cost savings of US$4.94 per person. Approximately between US$106.7 million to US$315 million per annum can be saved through the prevention of leptospirosis in Kelantan. Preventing leptospirosis is beneficial to Kelantan and would bring major economic savings. The findings are intended to help policy makers in the planning and management of leptospirosis policies and interventions.
钩端螺旋体病是马来西亚的地方性疾病。尽管发病率不断上升，但对预防钩端螺旋体病的经济评估的了解仍然有限。本文介绍了意愿支付（WTC）方法，用于估算预防钩端螺旋体病的经济效益。本研究采用横断面研究设计，使用 WTC 方法衡量吉兰丹州居民愿意为预防钩端螺旋体病付出多少时间。研究对象为年龄在 18 岁及以上、能流利使用马来语的湿巴刹贸易商。将平均 WTC 值乘以吉兰丹州的人口，得出预防钩端螺旋体病的货币价值。本研究共有 250 名受访者参与。每月的平均时间贡献为 6.68 小时（SD9.01）。平均 WTC 相当于每人每月节省 4.94 美元。通过在吉兰丹州预防钩端螺旋体病，每年可节省约 1067 万至 3150 万美元。预防钩端螺旋体病对吉兰丹州有益，可带来重大的经济节省。研究结果旨在帮助政策制定者规划和管理钩端螺旋体病政策和干预措施。
