01693nas a2200253   4500000000100000008004100001260003900042653001200081653001200093653002100105653001900126100001500145700001100160700001100171700001200182700001300194700001600207245009200223856007700315300001000392490000600402050001800408520101300426       2012                            d  c09/2012bPublic Library of Science10aNigeria10aleprosy10aFull text online10aCase detection1 aEzenduka C1 aPost E1 aJohn S1 aSuraj A1 aNamadi A1 aOnwujekwe O00aCost-Effectiveness Analysis of Three Leprosy Case Detection Methods in Northern Nigeria  uhttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3447964/pdf/pntd.0001818.pdf  ae18180 v6  aEZENDUKA 20123 a<p>Reported increases in child proportions and disability grade 2 cases in Nigeria suggest that leprosy disease is still spreading in the country. This indicates the need to review case finding strategies to improve case detection for effective control of the disease. It was necessary that available methods be assessed for their value for money in view of limited resources. We evaluated the cost-effectiveness of three available leprosy case detection methods using data available from 2005 to 2011. We explored data to determine which strategy when implemented in addition to routine practice would detect most additional leprosy cases at a given cost (measured in U.S. dollars). Hence, cost-effectiveness was expressed as incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER). Our findings show that at the rate of $142 per additional case detected, the household contact examination was the most costeffective strategy for detecting additional leprosy cases when implemented to complement routine practice.</p>