Average cost of a diarrhea case

Even one case of diarrhea can cost a family enough to push them into poverty. This bar chart shows estimates of the average cost of one diarrhea case among children in 137 low- and middle-income countries. The estimates were modeled by a PATH study, published in BMC Public Health, that undertook a systematic review of the literature on diarrhea cost of illness in children under 5 years and then generated the estimates using data from the articles as well as the World Health Organization’s Choosing Interventions that are Cost-Effective (WHO–CHOICE) database. Across all 137 countries, costs averaged $52.16 per outpatient episode and $216.36 per inpatient episode. Significant proportions of the costs for both inpatient and outpatient are due to non-medical (lodging, transportation) or indirect costs (lost wages).