Supply, demand and use of economic evidence in vaccine policymaking in Africa: A scoping review
6 affiliations
- 1Department of Economics, University of Zambia, Lusaka, Zambia
- 2Department of Clinical Sciences, Lund University, Malmö, Sweden
- 3Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Zambia, Lusaka, Zambia
- 4Health Economics Research Unit, KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme, Nairobi, Kenya
- 5Center for Tropical Medicine and Global Health, Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
- 6Department of Health Metrics Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
Abstract
Economic evaluation offers policy makers a valuable tool for optimizing the use scarce healthcare resources. This scoping review aims to describe the existing scientific literature on economic evaluation and budget impact analysis of vaccine interventions, and the use of economic evidence in Africa. It highlights the current landscape and the challenges in using economic data to support vaccine policy on the continent. This study adapted and followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines. We included peer-reviewed studies published in English between January 2000 and July 2025 that reported on cost and economic evaluations of vaccines administered to children and youth, or on the use of economic evidence for policy decision-making in Africa. A literature search was conducted across five electronic databases: Medline, Embase, Web of Science, and Scopus. The search yielded 4037 articles in total after deduction of duplication. A total of 140 articles were included in the study following title, abstract screening and full text review. The review identified a sparse but growing literature of economic evaluations related to vaccine interventions in Africa. Only a handful of countries are represented in the articles published, implying a very low production of (and likely a low demand for) economic evaluation evidence. Authorship of the articles is led mostly by researchers from institutions based outside Africa, mostly in North America and Europe. Funding of studies is mostly by Gates Foundation, Gavi, PATH, Wellcome Trust and World Health Organisation. Production and use of economic evaluation for vaccine policy in Africa have been hampered by capacity limitations in both research and policy institutions on the continent. The use of the evidence in decision making is limited. In the sphere of vaccine policy, economic evaluation is still a fledging enterprise requiring more investment.
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BibTeX
@article{mazuba2026supply,
title = {{Supply, demand and use of economic evidence in vaccine policymaking in Africa: A scoping review}},
author = {Esther Mazuba and Joseph Kazibwe and Joseph Chirwa and Alick Banda and Oliver Kaonga and Bona Chitah and Stacey Orangi and Edwine Barasa and Felix Masiye},
journal = {PLOS Global Public Health},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.1371/journal.pgph.0007080},
url = {https://journals.plos.org/globalpublichealth/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgph.0007080},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Supply, demand and use of economic evidence in vaccine policymaking in Africa: A scoping review
AU - Esther Mazuba
AU - Joseph Kazibwe
AU - Joseph Chirwa
AU - Alick Banda
AU - Oliver Kaonga
AU - Bona Chitah
AU - Stacey Orangi
AU - Edwine Barasa
AU - Felix Masiye
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/24
JO - PLOS Global Public Health
DO - 10.1371/journal.pgph.0007080
UR - https://journals.plos.org/globalpublichealth/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgph.0007080
AB - Economic evaluation offers policy makers a valuable tool for optimizing the use scarce healthcare resources. This scoping review aims to describe the existing scientific literature on economic evaluation and budget impact analysis of vaccine interventions, and the use of economic evidence in Africa. It highlights the current landscape and the challenges in using economic data to support vaccine policy on the continent. This study adapted and followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines. We included peer-reviewed studies published in English between January 2000 and July 2025 that reported on cost and economic evaluations of vaccines administered to children and youth, or on the use of economic evidence for policy decision-making in Africa. A literature search was conducted across five electronic databases: Medline, Embase, Web of Science, and Scopus. The search yielded 4037 articles in total after deduction of duplication. A total of 140 articles were included in the study following title, abstract screening and full text review. The review identified a sparse but growing literature of economic evaluations related to vaccine interventions in Africa. Only a handful of countries are represented in the articles published, implying a very low production of (and likely a low demand for) economic evaluation evidence. Authorship of the articles is led mostly by researchers from institutions based outside Africa, mostly in North America and Europe. Funding of studies is mostly by Gates Foundation, Gavi, PATH, Wellcome Trust and World Health Organisation. Production and use of economic evaluation for vaccine policy in Africa have been hampered by capacity limitations in both research and policy institutions on the continent. The use of the evidence in decision making is limited. In the sphere of vaccine policy, economic evaluation is still a fledging enterprise requiring more investment.
SN - 2767-3375
ER -