Improving the assessment of the economic impact of parasitic diseases and of their control in production animals

This paper reviews the ways in which the economic impact of parasitic disea ses of production animals have been evaluated. It then discusses the shortf alls of such studies, as well as the opportunities for improving the qualit y of economic impact assessments and their value to decision makers in the future. The paper first identities the impacts that are specific to parasit ic diseases. It then goes on to review the abundant literature on estimatin g the total costs of diseases. The authors argue that this approach severel y limits the opportunity for economic assessments to aid decisions in disea se control and research. The paper then reviews the literature on studies o f avoidable costs, before discussing ways in which economic impact assessme nts can be enhanced. These issues include greater emphasis on incorporating the lost productivity potential caused by parasitic diseases, greater emph asis on valuing actual rather than intended control measures, and greater e mphasis on quantifying the productivity effects at the societal level, part icularly in the developing world. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.