EconPapers    
Economics at your fingertips  
 

Costs and benefits of implementing child survival services at a private mining company in Peru

K.G. Foreit, D. Haustein, M. Winterhalter and E. La Mata

American Journal of Public Health, 1991, vol. 81, issue 8, 1055-1057

Abstract: Costs and savings of child health services were studied in a private mining company in Peru. Despite considerable outlays for medical services, few children under age 5 were vaccinated, and half of their illnesses went untreated. Children who were attended at the company clinic usually received unnecessary medication. As a result of the study, the company hired additional staff to provide integrated maternal-child preventive health care and family planning and contracted for intensive training and periodic on-site supervision. In less than 2 years, vaccination coveraged reached 75%, and virtually all children under age 1 were enrolled in growth monitoring. Prescriptions were reduced by 24%, including a 67% drop in antimicrobials. The cost of the new services was $13 200 for the first 2 years. Approximately $6800 has been saved in pharmaceuticals prescribed for respiratory infection and diarrhea. Recently, two more mines adopted maternal and child health and family planning services. It is hoped that cost-benefit arguments will encourage other companies to incorporate aggressive child survival measures into their health plans.

Date: 1991
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aph:ajpbhl:1991:81:8:1055-1057_6

Access Statistics for this article

American Journal of Public Health is currently edited by Alfredo Morabia

More articles in American Journal of Public Health from American Public Health Association
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Christopher F Baum ().

 
Page updated 2025-03-19
Handle: RePEc:aph:ajpbhl:1991:81:8:1055-1057_6