IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pmen00/0000201.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Micro-costing analysis of a combination intervention for improved mental health and HIV risk behaviors among school-going adolescent girls in Uganda

Author

Listed:
  • Yesim Tozan
  • Joshua Kiyingi
  • Sooyoung Kim
  • Flavia Namuwonge
  • Florence Namuli
  • Vicent Ssentumbwe
  • Rashida Namirembe
  • Edwinnah Kasidi
  • Ozge Sensoy Bahar
  • Mary M Mckay
  • Fred M Ssewamala

Abstract

Suubi4Her is a combination intervention that integrates a savings-led family-based economic empowerment intervention through youth development accounts with a family strengthening intervention delivered via multiple family groups. It aims to improve mental health and reduce HIV risk behaviors among school-going adolescent girls in Uganda. This micro-costing study was conducted as part of a three-armed randomized control trial between 2017–2022, involving 1,260 participants aged 14–17 years across 47 secondary schools. Adopting a provider perspective, we prospectively identified, measured, and computed the costs associated with all program activities. These costs were then aggregated and divided by the actual number of adolescent girls in each study arm to conservatively obtain the per-adolescent costs for each arm. The per-adolescent costs of economic empowerment intervention alone and in combination with the family strengthening intervention were US$476 and US$812, respectively. Personnel costs were the key cost driver due to the intensive supervision of intervention delivery and quality assurance efforts. This study is the first to estimate the economic costs of an evidence-based combination intervention targeting the multifaceted risk factors underlying HIV risk among adolescent girls in a low-resource setting. The per-adolescent cost of US$812 for the Suubi4Her intervention falls within the cost range reported for other family-based interventions (US$500-US$900); however, published comparisons are limited. Accurate and reliable cost estimates are key to assessing the feasibility, affordability, and economic value of interventions. There is a pressing need for more costing studies on evidence-based combination interventions, especially in low-resource settings (Trial registration: Clinical Trials NCT03307226; IRB approvals: Washington University in St. Louis (IRB #201703102), the Uganda Virus Research Institute (GC/127/17/07/619), and the Uganda National Council of Science and Technology (SS4406).

Suggested Citation

  • Yesim Tozan & Joshua Kiyingi & Sooyoung Kim & Flavia Namuwonge & Florence Namuli & Vicent Ssentumbwe & Rashida Namirembe & Edwinnah Kasidi & Ozge Sensoy Bahar & Mary M Mckay & Fred M Ssewamala, 2024. "Micro-costing analysis of a combination intervention for improved mental health and HIV risk behaviors among school-going adolescent girls in Uganda," PLOS Mental Health, Public Library of Science, vol. 1(7), pages 1-14, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:plo:pmen00:0000201
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pmen.0000201
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/mentalhealth/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmen.0000201
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/mentalhealth/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pmen.0000201&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pmen.0000201?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pmen00:0000201. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: mentalhealth (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/mentalhealth/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.