Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To determine the age-weighting preferences of urban Zimbabweans in relation to health care priorities.
METHOD: A total of 67 randomly selected residents of a high-density area of Harare participated in the study. Participants were asked "person trade-off" questions to determine their preferences in terms of the numbers of people of various ages who would be saved from death and from suffering a year of ill-health relative to the number of 30-year-olds who would be saved from these eventualities.
FINDINGS: The responses indicate that the value of averting a year of ill-health was judged greatest for 15-year-olds and was equal for people aged 1, 30, and 45 years. The value of averting a death primarily reflected the expected years of life lost, but the influence of age-weighting was evident in that 15 years was the most highly valued age.
CONCLUSION: Although the age-weighting curves did not correspond exactly with the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) age-weights, Zimbabweans showed a preference for saving the lives of young adults. The GBD age-weights should be used to determine the disability-adjusted life years lost in the Zimbabwean population.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Journal | Bulletin of the World Health Organization |
| Volume | 80 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| Pages (from-to) | 204-9 |
| Number of pages | 6 |
| ISSN | 0042-9686 |
| Publication status | Published - 2002 |
Keywords
- Adolescent
- Adult
- Age Factors
- Aged
- Aged, 80 and over
- Child
- Child, Preschool
- Cost of Illness
- Female
- Health Priorities
- Health Status Indicators
- Humans
- Infant
- Life Expectancy
- Male
- Middle Aged
- Urban Population
- Value of Life
- Zimbabwe
- Comparative Study
- Journal Article
- Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
