¡Mirame! program was launched in Chile in 1993,
to promote a healthy life style at school age. Aim: To evaluate cost-effectiveness of this program.
Material and methods: Fifth and sixth grade school children, from 5 selected municipalities
of the Metropolitan Region were studied. The design was a quasi-experiment with an
intervention (IP, 1,435 children) and reference population (RP, 1,246 children). Tobacco (T-C)
and alcohol (OH-C) consumption were the indicators. A baseline survey was done in 1993 and
repeated in 1996 in both groups. The criterion of Net Change was applied to assess effectiveness.
For cost evaluation, an institutional perspective was considered. Direct municipal
administration and «¡Mirame!» program costs were analyzed and incremental costs were
calculated, using reference municipalities as controls. A univariate sensitivity analysis was
done based on the beneficial discount rate and cost discount rate. Cost effectiveness coefficient
was calculated. Results: The incremental cost per each boy and girl prevented from OH-C was
US112(103.6−114.3)andUS 132 (129.9-133.3) respectively. The figures for each boy and
girl prevented from T-C was US154(142.7−157.4)andUS 130 (122.5-135.2) respectively.
The program caused an additional cost per child, for the city hall of US$ 11.7 in two years.
Conclusions: It is possible to apply health promotion interventions in schools with a good cost
effectiveness in the short runTrabajo financiado parcialmente por: 1. Grant: FINNIDA (Finnish International
Development Agency)/NGO North Karelia Project, 1993-1995 y 2. FONDECYT #/1993/
0680, 1993-1995
