Table 3.

Return on investment of national public health programmes: specific studies

Reference	Intervention	Population	Benefit-cost ratio	Return on investment	Cost perspective	Discount rate	Time horizon	Study quality
Abelson et al 10	Hib vaccination	Australia	1.06		Medical	5%	15 years	++
Abelson et al 10	HIV/AIDS prevention	Australia	4		Medical	5%	25 years	++
Abelson et al 10	Measles vaccination	Australia	167		Medical	5%	33 years	++
Abelson et al 10	Programmes to reduce rates of coronary heart disease	Australia	11		Medical	5%	40 years	++
Abelson et al 10	Programmes to reduce tobacco consumption	Australia	2		Medical	5%	40 years	++
Abelson et al 10	Road safety campaigns	Australia	3		Medical	5%	40 years	++
Boccalini et al 32	Universal hepatitis B vaccination	Italy		€2.78	Medical and societal	3%	20 years	++
Bonin et al 58	Parenting programmes for the prevention of persistent conduct disorders	England	7.89		Medical and societal	3.5%	35 years	++
Drummond11	Needle exchange	Australia	1.2		Public health	5%	Lifetime	++
Evans-Lacko et al 12	Antistigma social marketing campaign	England		£0.7 to £1.90	Unclear	None	1 year	-
Garpenholt et al 38	Hib vaccination	Sweden	1.59		Societal	5%	20 years	++
Gortmaker et al 15	Sugar sweetened beverage tax	USA		$55	Medical	3%	10 years	++
Gortmaker et al 15	Eliminating tax subsidy of nutritionally poor food advertising to children	USA		$38	Medical	3%	10 years	++
Gould8	Lead paint control	USA		$17 to $221	Medical and societal	None	Unclear	−
Holtgrave et al 34	HIV counselling, testing, referral and partner notification services	USA	20.09		Societal	6%	Lifetime	++
Hutchinson et al 35	Expanded HIV testing	USA		$1.46 to $2.01	Health sector	3%	Lifetime	++
Kwon et al 36	Needle exchange	Australia		$A1.3 to $A5.5	Health sector	3%	Lifetime	++
Lokkerbol et al 55	Telemedicine for depression	The Netherlands		€1.45 to €1.76	Medical	1.5% costs, 4% effects	5 years	++
McGuire et al 14	Family planning services	UK	11.09 to 29.39		Medical	6%	Lifetime	++
Miller et al 16	Booster seats for 4–7 years olds	USA	8.6		Medical	3%	3 years	++
Nguyen et al 37	Needle exchange	USA		$3.48	Medical	None	1 year	+
Nichol et al 7	Influenza vaccination of healthy workers	USA		−$21.27 to +$174.32	Societal	3%	1 year	+
Romano et al 40	Folic acid fortification of grain	USA	4.3 to 6.1		Human capital	4%	Lifetime	++
Trust for America13	Primary and secondary prevention programmes	USA		$6.2	Medical	0%	10–20 years	+
Wang et al 50	Universal school nursing services	USA		$2.20	Societal	None	1 year	+
White et al 28	MMR vaccination	USA	14		Medical	10%	Lifetime	++
Ding et al 30	Hospital-based postpartum influenza vaccination	USA		$1.7	Medical and societal	3%	1 year	++
Zhou et al 38	Hib vaccination	USA	5.4		Medical and societal	3%	Lifetime	++

Hib, haemophilus influenzae type b; MMR, measles, mumps and rubella.