Abstract

Background

Overweight and obesity are major risk factors for noncommunicable diseases. This presents a major burden to health systems and to society in South Africa. Collectively, these conditions are overwhelming public healthcare. This is happening when the country has embarked on a journey to universal health coverage, hence the need to estimate the cost of overweight and obesity.

Objective

Our objective was to estimate the healthcare cost associated with treatment of weight-related conditions from the perspective of the South African public sector payer.

Methods

Using a bottom-up gross costing approach, this study draws data from multiple sources to estimate the direct healthcare cost of overweight and obesity in South Africa. Population Attributable Fractions (PAF) were calculated and multiplied by each disease’s total treatment cost to apportion costs to overweight and obesity. Annual costs were estimated for 2020.

Results

The total cost of overweight and obesity is estimated to be ZAR33,194 million in 2020. This represents 15.38% of government health expenditure and is equivalent to 0.67% of GDP. Annual per person cost of overweight and obesity is ZAR2,769. The overweight and obesity cost is disaggregated as follows: cancers (ZAR352 million), cardiovascular diseases (ZAR8,874 million), diabetes (ZAR19,861 million), musculoskeletal disorders (ZAR3,353 million), respiratory diseases (ZAR360 million) and digestive diseases (ZAR395 million). Sensitivity analyses show that the total overweight and obesity cost is between ZAR30,369 million and ZAR36,207 million.

Conclusion

This analysis has demonstrated that overweight and obesity impose a huge financial burden on the public health care system in South Africa. It suggests an urgent need for preventive, population-level interventions to reduce overweight and obesity rates. The reduction will lower the incidence, prevalence, and healthcare spending on noncommunicable diseases.

Details

Title
Estimating the healthcare cost of overweight and obesity in South Africa
Author
Boachie, Micheal Kofi 1 ; Thsehla, Evelyn 1   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Immurana, Mustapha 2   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Kohli-Lynch, Ciaran 3   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Hofman, Karen J 1 

1  SAMRC/Wits Centre for Health Economics and Decision Science – PRICELESS SA, Faculty of Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa 
2  Institute of Health Research, University of Health and Allied Sciences, Ho, Ghana 
3  SAMRC/Wits Centre for Health Economics and Decision Science – PRICELESS SA, Faculty of Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa; Center for Health Services and Outcomes Research, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois, USA 
Publication year
2022
Publication date
Dec 2022
Publisher
Taylor & Francis Ltd.
e-ISSN
16549880
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1080/16549716.2022.2045092
ProQuest document ID
2761421172
Copyright
© 2022 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.