A Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of a Simple Micromethod for Hepatitis B Screening in Hepatitis B Virus Control Programmes

We developed a simple micromethod for identifying mothers who are most likely to transmit hepatitis B infection to their infants, using reverse passive haemagglutination for detecting HBsAg (hepatitis B surface antigen) in capillary blood. This screening method was evaluated against other strategies for hepatitis B control by means of decision- and cost-effectiveness analyses. The micromethod was shown to be cost-effective when the cost of hepatitis B vaccine was high. However, with increasingly reduced costs of the vaccine, it may have a limited role in a programme of mass immunization for hepatitis B.