Characterizing the Costs of the Global Polio Laboratory Network: A Survey-Based Analysis
by Radboud J. Duintjer Tebbens, Ousmane M. Diop, Mark A. Pallansch, M. Steven Oberste, and Kimberly M. Thompson, BMJ Open 2019;9(1):e023290, doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2018-023290.

What are the study’s main findings?
What are the study’s main recommendations?
Background on polio

What are the study’s main findings?

• We estimate total annual costs for poliovirus surveillance laboratory support of approximately $43 million (US$2016), excluding any field or other non-laboratory costs of polio surveillance.
• Processing samples of patients with acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) accounts for an estimated total costs of approximately $28 million per year, 61% of which were supported by internal (national) funds, and which indicates an increase in these costs compared to 2006 estimates.
• The role of environmental surveillance continues to increase, with the costs of establishing new environmental surveillance laboratory capacity in an existing AFP laboratory estimated to cost approximately $75,000.
• Countries continue to contribute significantly to financing global polio surveillance, but many laboratories currently depend on funds from the Global Polio Eradication Initiative.
• Polio-supported surveillance laboratory staff currently spend an estimated 30% of their time on other diseases.
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• Sustaining critical global surveillance for polioviruses and transitioning support for other disease programs will require continued significant funding after polio certification.
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