Xingzhu Liu from China wins Health Economics Essay Award

`I am very lucky and proud'

Nine contributions from all over Asia were the outcome of the Health Economics Essay Competition for WHO's 50th Anniversary. Mr. Xingzhu Liu from the Shandong Medical University in China was judged as the winner of this competition by an international review panel. He presented his ` Economic Study of Slide Taking Criteria of Malaria Case Detection in Shandong, China', at the first day of the forum, receiving congratulations from the forum participants.

Xingzhu Liu did not expect there would only be one winner. In a reaction after the presentation, he said: "If I knew before only one essay prize would be awarded, I probably would not have handed in mine... But now I think I am very lucky to be able to present this study at an international forum. And yes, I am proud as well!"

Abstract of winning essay

The study aiming at developing a cost-effective criterion of slide-taking for the malaria case detection was done in Shandong Province, China. The analysis of the current status shows an urgent need to improve the efficiency and capture rate by redefining the target population of slide-taking by using an operational and uniform slide-taking criterion. At the time of investigation, the estimated capture rate of current practice was only 56%. It was necessary to take and read 6200 slides and spend 40,000 yuan to find a positive slide. Based on the analysis of the trade-off between the capture rate and the efficiency of various criteria ranging from the most strict to the least strict ones, `fever patients with shiver or with periodic feature' is recommended as a slide-taking criterion. With this criterion, the expected capture rate will be up to 97%, and the expected number of slides and cost per positive case will be reduced to only 120 and 780 yuan respectively. The implementation of this criterion is expected to lead to great improvement in the efficiency and the capture rate of malaria case detection.