New health economic framework to help assess what might be required to eliminate African sleeping sickness by 2030

· To successfully eliminate a disease, global-health decision makers have to establish if current tools are sufficient to achieve elimination, however they must also consider whether investment in elimination is a good use of limited resources. Mathematical and health economic modelling can be used to predict which intervention strategies have a high probability of successfully eliminating a disease as well as how much this would be expected to cost. An international group of researchers, including scientists at the University of Warwick, have developed a framework that can be used to identify cost-effective strategies when decision makers and/or funders want to invest in elimination of infectious diseases but where uncertainty remains around if and when it can be achieved. Researchers have used this new framework to explore what resources (physical and financial) are required to have high confidence in meeting this goal for African sleeping sickness, a disease targeted for elimination by 2030. Several diseases have been earmarked for elimination or eradication based on factors such as feasibility, lives saved and the possibility of long-run cost-savings. The cost of elimination strategies, however, can become very high as you approach zero transmission. An international group of researchers have created a new health economic framework that supports decision makers and funders in understanding the resources required to achieve the World Health Organization's (WHO) goal of eliminating sleeping sickness by 2030.