Distributional consequences of including survivor costs in economic evaluations

Medical interventions that increase life expectancy of patients result in additional consumption of non‐medical goods and services in ‘added life years’. This paper focuses on the distributional consequences across socio‐economic groups of including these costs in cost effectiveness analysis. In that context, it also highlights the role of remaining quality of life and household economies of scale. Data from a Dutch household spending survey was used to estimate non‐medical consumption and household size by age and educational attainment. Estimates of non‐medical consumption and household size were combined with life tables to estimate what the impact of including non‐medical survivor costs would be on the incremental cost effectiveness ratio (ICER) of preventing a death at a certain age. Results show that including non‐medical survivor costs increases estimated ICERs most strongly when interventions are targeted at the higher educated. Adjusting for household size (lower educated people less often live additional life years in multi‐person households) and quality of life (lower educated people on average spend added life years in poorer health) mitigates this difference. Ignoring costs of non‐medical consumption in economic evaluations implicitly favors interventions targeted at the higher educated and thus potentially amplifies socio‐economic inequalities in health

Tour, Giro, Vuelta: Rapid Progress in Cycling Performance Starts in the 1980s

Abstract After analyzing historic records , El Helou et al. [1] reported a distinctive 6.38% improvement in speed in European professional road racing fro m 1993 onwards, a period wh ich coincides with the years of the ‗epo epidemic' in professional cycling. We aim to show that this improvement might be spurious, since El Helou et al. did not account for the influence of confounding variables on riders' speed progression over time. We scrutinized arch ival data provided by the French Association Mé moire du Cy clism

Development and Validation of an On-Line Water Toxicity Sensor with Immobilized Luminescent Bacteria for On-Line Surface Water Monitoring.

Surface water used for drinking water production is frequently monitored in The Netherlands using whole organism biomonitors, with for exampleDaphnia magnaorDreissenamussels, which respond to changes in the water quality. However, not all human-relevant toxic compounds can be detected by these biomonitors. Therefore, a new on-line biosensor has been developed, containing immobilized genetically modified bacteria, which respond to genotoxicity in the water by emitting luminescence. The performance of this sensor was tested under laboratory conditions, as well as under field conditions at a monitoring station along the river Meuse in The Netherlands. The sensor was robust and easy to clean, with inert materials, temperature control and nutrient feed for the reporter organisms. The bacteria were immobilized in sol-gel on either an optical fiber or a glass slide and then continuously exposed to water. Since the glass slide was more sensitive and robust, only this setup was used in the field. The sensor responded to spikes of genotoxic compounds in the water with a minimal detectable concentration of 0.01 mg/L mitomycin C in the laboratory and 0.1 mg/L mitomycin C in the field. With further optimization, which should include a reduction in daily maintenance, the sensor has the potential to become a useful addition to the currently available biomonitors

Country profile Niger

This country profile, commissioned by The Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Department of Inclusive Green Growth), gives a snapshot of what is happening in the closely related themes Food & Nutrition Security, Water and Climate and Renewable Energy in Niger. It provides basic statistics on Niger’s performance on key indicators and indexes, but also analyses relevant national policies, current donor interventions, and the main trends on the abovementioned themes. Combined with an overview of Dutch support to Niger, this profile concludes by suggesting possible priority result areas for The Netherlands

Sahel regional profile

This regional profile, commissioned by The Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Department of Inclusive Green Growth), gives a snapshot of what is happening in the closely related themes Food & Nutrition Security, Water and Climate and Renewable Energy in the Sahel region. It provides basic statistics on the region’s performance on key indicators and indexes, but also analyses relevant policies, current donor interventions, and the main trends on the abovementioned themes. Combined with an overview of Dutch support to the Sahel, this profile ends by suggesting possible priority directions for The Netherlands

Country profile Nigeria

This country profile, commissioned by The Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Department of Inclusive Green Growth), gives a snapshot of what is happening in the closely related themes Food & Nutrition Security, Water and Climate and Renewable Energy in Nigeria. It provides basic statistics on Nigeria’s performance on key indicators and indexes, but also analyses relevant national policies, current donor interventions, and the main trends on the abovementioned themes. Combined with an overview of Dutch support to Nigeria, this profile ends by suggesting possible priority result areas for The Netherlands

Country profile Senegal

Country profile: This country profile is part of a series of 12 countries in the Sahel, Horn of A frica, and MENA regions, covering per country the themes of Food & Nutrition Security, Water, Climate and Renewable Energy. Commissioned by the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Department of Inclusive Green Growth, IGG), and implemented by Wageningen Centre for Development Innovation (WCDI), as part of the Support Facility of Food & Nutrition Security

Country profile Chad

This country profile, commissioned by The Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Department of Inclusive Green Growth), gives a snapshot of what is happening in the closely related themes Food & Nutrition Security, Water and Climate and Renewable Energy in Chad. It provides basic statistics on Chad’s performance on key indicators and indexes, but also analyses relevant national policies, current donor interventions, and the main trends on the abovementioned themes. Combined with an overview of Dutch support to Chad, this profile ends by suggesting possible priority result areas for The Netherlands

Country profile Burkina Faso

This country profile, commissioned by The Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Department of Inclusive Green Growth), gives a snapshot of what is happening in the closely related themes Food & Nutrition Security, Water and Climate and Renewable Energy in Burkina Faso. It provides basic statistics on Burkina Faso’s performance on key indicators and indexes, but also analyses relevant national policies, current donor interventions, and the main trends on the abovementioned themes. Combined with an overview of Dutch support to Burkina Faso, this profile ends by suggesting possible priority result areas for The Netherlands