The field of public health economics has become increasingly vital in guiding resource allocation toward interventions that maximize population health outcomes. A particular area of growing interest is the economics of preventative interventions, which seek to avert disease, disability, and premature death before they occur. While preventive measures—such as vaccination programs, health education, screening, and policy reforms—have demonstrated substantial promise in reducing long-term healthcare expenditures and improving overall well-being, debates persist regarding their comparative value, cost-effectiveness, and optimal implementation. Current research reveals a complex picture; while some preventive interventions deliver robust economic returns and health benefits, others yield more modest or uncertain outcomes, highlighting the need for a nuanced understanding of context, timing, and population characteristics. Significant studies have helped form the theoretical and methodological basis for analyzing costs and benefits, yet questions remain about the best approaches for modeling long-term effects, capturing indirect benefits, and integrating equity issues into economic evaluations.
This Research Topic aims to gather and advance insights into the economic evaluation, impact, and policy implications of preventative interventions in public health. Specifically, it encourages the submission of research that explores the value for money of various prevention strategies, examines how economic evidence shapes health policy or practice, and elucidates the methodological challenges inherent in assessing preventive actions. It seeks to address core questions around the prioritization of limited resources, measurement of outcomes beyond immediate cost savings, and evaluation frameworks that can support evidence-informed decision-making for prevention within different health system contexts and population settings.
To gather further insights into the scope of preventative interventions’ economics, we welcome articles focusing on, but not limited to, the following themes:
Economic evaluation of preventive and early intervention programs (e.g., cost-effectiveness, cost-benefit, and cost-utility analyses)
Methodological innovations for modeling prevention outcomes and long-term impacts
Equity considerations and distributional effects in the economics of prevention
The role of economic evidence in prevention policy development and implementation
Return on investment and budget impact analyses for population-based preventive strategies
Comparative studies of prevention versus treatment economics
Article types and fees
This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:
- Brief Research Report
- Community Case Study
- Data Report
- Editorial
- FAIR² Data
- FAIR² DATA Direct Submission
- General Commentary
- Hypothesis and Theory
- Methods
- … View all formats
Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.
Keywords: preventative interventions, health economics, economic evaluation, cost-effectiveness, public health policy
Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
