To disinvest or invest? The role of programme budgeting and marginal analysis (PBMA) for economic evaluation and prioritization between public health interventions
This chapter describes the application of programme budgeting and marginal analysis (PBMA) as an evidence-based framework to make resource allocation decisions such as whether to invest or disinvest in certain services, products, or interventions. This evidence-based eight-step decision-making process can help decision-makers to maximize the impact of healthcare resources on the health needs of a local population. Programme budgeting is an appraisal of past resource allocation in specified programmes or services with a view to tracking future resource allocation in those same programmes or services. Marginal analysis is the appraisal of the added benefits and added costs of a proposed investment or the lost benefits and lower costs of a proposed disinvestment. This chapter pays particular attention to the use of the PBMA framework to appraise a national health improvement budget as a case study to illustrate the methods practical application in public health.