Moving away from the "unit cost". Predicting country-specific average cost curves of VMMC services accounting for variations in service delivery platforms in sub-Saharan Africa.

Background: One critical element to optimize funding decisions involves the cost and efficiency implications of implementing alternative program components and configurations. Program planners, policy makers and funders alike are in need of relevant, strategic data and analyses to help them plan and implement effective and efficient programs. Contrary to widely accepted conceptions in both policy and academic arenas, average costs per service (so-called "unit costs") vary considerably across implementation settings and facilities.

Con la ley y sin la ley/With and without the law: Utilization of abortion services and case fatality in Mexico, 2000-2016.

Objective: To describe utilization of health services for, and case fatality from, abortion in Mexico.

Method: A historical cohort study using a census of state-level aggregate hospital discharge and primary care clinic data across Mexico's 32 states from January 2000 to December 2016. Abortive events and changes over time in utilization per 1000 women aged 15-44 years, and case fatality per 100 000 abortion-related events were described by year, health sector, and state.

A meta-analysis approach for estimating average unit costs for ART using pooled facility-level primary data from African countries.

To estimate facility-level average cost for ART services and explore unit cost variations using pooled facility-level cost estimates from four HIV empirical cost studies conducted in five African countries . Through a literature search we identified studies reporting facility-level costs for ART programmes. We requested the underlying data and standardised the disparate data sources to make them comparable.

Developing the Global Health Cost Consortium Unit Cost Study Repository for HIV and TB: methodology and lessons learned.

Consistently defined, accurate, and easily accessible cost data are a valuable resource to inform efficiency analyses, budget preparation, and sustainability planning in global health. The Global Health Cost Consortium (GHCC) designed the Unit Cost Study Repository (UCSR) to be a resource for standardised HIV and TB intervention cost data displayed by key characteristics such as intervention type, country, and target population. To develop the UCSR, the GHCC defined a typology of interventions for each disease; aligned interventions according to the standardised principles, methods, and cost and activity categories from the GHCC Reference Case for Estimating the Costs of Global Health Services and Interventions; completed a systematic literature review; conducted extensive data extraction; performed quality assurance; grappled with complex methodological issues such as the proper approach to the inflation and conversion of costs; developed and implemented a study quality rating system; and designed a web-based user interface that flexibly displays large amounts of data in a user-friendly way.

The state of costing research for HIV interventions in sub-Saharan Africa.

The past decade has seen a growing emphasis on the production of high-quality costing data to improve the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of global health interventions. The need for such data is especially important for decision making and priority setting across HIV services from prevention and testing to treatment and care. To help address this critical need, the Global Health Cost Consortium was created in 2016, in part to conduct a systematic search and screening of the costing literature for HIV and TB interventions in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC).

Meta-analysis of average costs of HIV testing and counselling and voluntary medical male circumcision across thirteen countries.

Explore facility-level average costs per client of HIV testing and counselling (HTC) and voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) services in 13 countries. Through a literature search we identified studies that reported facility-level costs of HTC or VMMC programmes. We requested the primary data from authors and standardised the disparate data sources to make them comparable.

Utilisation of second-trimester spontaneous and induced abortion services in public hospitals in Mexico, 2007-2015.

Background: Data on utilisation of in-facility second-trimester abortion services are sparse. We describe temporal and geographical trends in utilisation of in-facility second-trimester abortion services across Mexico.

Methods: We used 2007-2015 data from Mexico's Automated Hospital Discharge System (SAEH) to identify second-trimester abortive events (ICD O02-O08) in public hospitals across Mexico's 32 states.

Quantifying disparities in access to public-sector abortion based on legislative differences within the Mexico City Metropolitan Area.

Objectives: In the Mexico City Metropolitan Area, only women in the city center have local access to legal first-trimester abortion. We quantify how this legislative discrepancy affects access to legal, public-sector abortion across the metropolitan area.

Study Design: In this observational study, we used a dataset representing 67.

Global Burden of Hypertension and Systolic Blood Pressure of at Least 110 to 115 mm Hg, 1990-2015.

Importance: Elevated systolic blood (SBP) pressure is a leading global health risk. Quantifying the levels of SBP is important to guide prevention policies and interventions.

Objective: To estimate the association between SBP of at least 110 to 115 mm Hg and SBP of 140 mm Hg or higher and the burden of different causes of death and disability by age and sex for 195 countries and territories, 1990-2015.

Estimating the burden of disease attributable to injecting drug use as a risk factor for HIV, hepatitis C, and hepatitis B: findings from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013.

Background: Previous estimates of the burden of HIV, hepatitis B virus (HBV), and hepatitis C virus (HCV) among people who inject drugs have not included estimates of the burden attributable to the consequences of past injecting. We aimed to provide these estimates as part of the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Study 2013.

Methods: We modelled the burden of HBV and HCV (including cirrhosis and liver cancer burden) and HIV at the country, regional, and global level.

Physical activity and risk of breast cancer, colon cancer, diabetes, ischemic heart disease, and ischemic stroke events: systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013.

Objective:  To quantify the dose-response associations between total physical activity and risk of breast cancer, colon cancer, diabetes, ischemic heart disease, and ischemic stroke events.

Design:  Systematic review and Bayesian dose-response meta-analysis.

Data Sources:  PubMed and Embase from 1980 to 27 February 2016, and references from relevant systematic reviews.

Global, regional, and national comparative risk assessment of 79 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or clusters of risks in 188 countries, 1990-2013: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013.

Background: The Global Burden of Disease, Injuries, and Risk Factor study 2013 (GBD 2013) is the first of a series of annual updates of the GBD. Risk factor quantification, particularly of modifiable risk factors, can help to identify emerging threats to population health and opportunities for prevention. The GBD 2013 provides a timely opportunity to update the comparative risk assessment with new data for exposure, relative risks, and evidence on the appropriate counterfactual risk distribution.