— Christine M. Kukka, Project Manager, HBV Advocate
A small cash incentive, totalling about $50 U.S. (30 British pounds)
in grocery vouchers, dramatically increased hepatitis B immunization
among 210 heroin addicts undergoing methadone treatment in London.
Historically, injection drug users have low vaccination rates
despite the fact that 22% of them become infected with the hepatitis B
virus (HBV). This initiative, described in the April issue of The Lancet, offered the injection drug users the following options:
- No financial incentive to be immunized
- A 10-pound payment in grocery vouchers for each of the three vaccine injections
- Or escalating payments of 5 pounds, 10 pounds and then 15 pounds for the third and last dose
Only 9% of drug users who received no incentives were immunized
with all three doses. However, 45% of those receiving 10 pounds at each
visit were fully immunized and 49% of those receiving increasing
payments were immunized.
The fact that payments increased compliance did not surprise
researchers at the National Addiction Center at King's College, however
the scale of the increased participation did.
Also, the paid patients tended to be on time for their appointments, which saved the program money.
A commentator on the study, writing in the same edition of The Lancet,
noted, "Health care policy makers might be wise to consider
traditional market forces when designing and delivering prevention
strategies. The findings ... suggest that contingent financial
incentives might be as or more important in the disease prevention
marketplace as they are in commercial markets."
Source: www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-04/tl-tls040714.php
HBV Journal Review
May 1, 2014, Vol 11, no 5
http://www.hbvadvocate.org/news/HBJ11.5.htmLabels: heroin addicts, immunization strategies, incentives
