Integrating economic and health evidence to inform Covid-19 policy in low- and middle- income countries
Vassall A., Sweeney S., Barasa E., Prinja S., Keogh-Brown M., Tarp Jensen H., Smith R., Baltussen R., M Eggo R., Jit M.
Covid-19 requires policy makers to consider evidence on both population health and economic welfare. Over the last two decades, the field of health economics has developed a range of analytical approaches and contributed to the institutionalisation of processes to employ economic evidence in health policy. We present a discussion outlining how these approaches and processes need to be applied more widely to inform Covid-19 policy; highlighting where they may need to be adapted conceptually and methodologically, and providing examples of work to date. We focus on the evidential and policy needs of low- and middle-income countries; where there is an urgent need for evidence to navigate the policy trade-offs between health and economic well-being posed by the Covid-19 pandemic.