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BACKGROUND AND METHODS: In the setting of a cluster randomized study to assess impact of the Integrated Management of Neonatal and Childhood Illnesses (IMNCI) program in the district of Faridabad in India, we randomly selected auxiliary nurse midwives (ANM), anganwadi workers (AWW) and accredited social health activists (ASHA) from intervention and control areas to collect cost data using an economic perspective. Bootstrap method was used to estimate 95% confidence interval. RESULTS: The annual per-child cost of providing health services through an ANM, AWW and ASHA is INR 348 (USD 7.7), INR 588 (USD 13.1) and INR 87 (USD 1.9), respectively. The annual per-child incremental cost of delivering IMNCI is INR 124.8 (USD 2.77), INR 26 (USD 0.6) and INR 31 (USD 0.7) at the ANM, AWW and ASHA level, respectively. CONCLUSION: Implementation of IMNCI imposes additional costs to the health system. A comprehensive economic evaluation of the IMNCI is imperative to estimate the net cost implications in India.
Prinja et al. (Fri,) studied this question.