Global return on investment and cost-effectiveness of WHO's HEAR interventions for hearing loss: a modelling study.
Level 5 - mechanism / opinion, no new human data
Economic decision-analytic modelling study using secondary data without direct clinical trial data (graded by design analogy).
PubMed 34919856 · doi:10.1016/S2214-109X(21)00447-2
What was done
A global decision-analytic transition modelling study evaluated the cost-effectiveness and return on investment of scaling up the World Health Organization's HEAR intervention package (screening across the lifespan, ear disease prevention and management, access to hearing technologies, and rehabilitation services). Using hearing loss burden data from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019, national population cohorts across 172 countries were modelled from 2020 to 2030 under three scenarios: business-as-usual, 50% coverage scale-up, and 90% coverage scale-up. Costs were compared against the monetary value of disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) averted and productivity gains.
What was found
Scaling up the HEAR interventions to 90% coverage requires an estimated global investment of US$238.8 billion over 10 years (2020–2030). This investment was projected to avert more than 130 million DALYs, corresponding to an estimated monetary value exceeding US$1.3 trillion. Productivity benefits were estimated at more than US$2 trillion globally by 2030, generating a projected return of nearly US$15 for every US$1 invested.
Why it matters
This provides the first global economic investment case supporting the integration of ear and hearing care packages into universal health coverage plans.
Limits
Findings are based on mathematical and economic simulation rather than prospectively measured empirical trial or program data. Projections depend heavily on the accuracy of Global Burden of Disease 2019 epidemiological estimates, assumed intervention effectiveness, and economic assumptions used to monetize DALYs and productivity gains across diverse settings.
Cited by
- supports The global economic cost of unaddressed hearing loss is estimated at nearly one trillion dollars annually.