Measuring the Direct Medical Costs of Hospital-Onset Infections Using an Analogy Costing Framework.

Background: The majority of recent estimates on the direct medical cost attributable to hospital-onset infections (HOIs) has focused on device- or procedure-associated HOIs. The attributable costs of HOIs that are not associated with device use or procedures have not been extensively studied.

Objective: We developed simulation models of attributable cost for 16 HOIs and estimated the total direct medical cost, including nondevice-related HOIs in the USA for 2011 and 2015.

Achieving the sustainable development goals: a case study of the complexity of water quality health risks in Malawi.

Background: Suppose 35 % of the households with children under 5 years of age in a low-income suburban neighborhood in a developing country have diarrhea where improved water sources are available. Clearly, something is amiss-but what? In addition to focusing on the need to examine water quality among water sources that meet the 'improved' category when assessing health risk, the relative importance of the range of transmission routes for diarrhea is unknown. In Malawi, relevant baseline data affecting human health are simply not available, and acquiring data is hampered by a lack of local analytical capacity for characterizing drinking water quality.