OBJECTIVES: Cholera is an acute diarrheal infection that remains a major global public health threat which kills within hours if the patient untreated. Bangladesh has one of the world’s highest burdens of endemic cholera, and frequent outbreaks in Bangladesh occur both in endemic and epidemic forms. Regarding healthcare, health needs often outstrip the available and often scarce resources, so priority settings are crucial for allocating resources efficiently. The objective of the study is to assess the health-related quality of life and treatment cost for cholera patients in urban Bangladesh.

METHODS: The data extracted from a cross-sectional survey conducted in the icddr,b hospital located in urban Dhaka, Bangladesh. A patient based approach was applied to estimate treatment cost for provider’s point of view. The quality of life was captured from patient’s perspective. A micro-costing bottom-up approach was used for calculating the treatment cost of cholera patients. To capturing the quality of life (QOL) the EuroQol-5D (EQ-5D) was employed. Values of EQ-5D ranges between -0.594 (worst possible score) and 1 (best possible score) representing overall health.

RESULTS

: * The treatment cost per patients was US $ 52.23 for hospital perspective

* Before the treatment, the average health related quality of life is -0.044

* Health related quality of life is lower before treatment (i.e. EQ-5D score is -0.80) for female patients than male patients (i.e. EQ-5D score is 0.002).

* During discharging of the hospital, the average EQ-5D score is 0.80 where, male patients was better condition (EQ-5D score,0.83) than female (EQ-5D score,0.78).

CONCLUSIONS: Resource scarcity is commonly recognized in healthcare sector in Bangladesh. This result will help to understand the health and economic burden of cholera illnesses on healthcare providers. This study will play a major role for policymakers in formulating rational cholera prevention programs, especially for high-risk urban populations.