Background: The Iranian Health House is a peripheral unit of the Iranian Primary Health care (PHC); it is the most comprehensive health service unit in rural areas of the country. These Healthcare units, were formed with the intention of increasing of social and health equity in health to benefit those in need of healthcare services. In this study, the cost of health services delivered in 1995 to prevent child mortality and disability in children under 5 years of age were assessed.
Methods: Data were obtained by literature review of studies conducted on the costs of Healthcare clinics as well as information from websites of the Statistics Center of Iran, National Organization for Civil Registration, Central Bank, Ministry of Health and Medical Education and interviews with key informant involved in the development of healthcare centers and then the cost of preventing death and disability of children under 5 years of age were estimated.
Results: The healthcare cost of a villager was US$ 10 per year in 1995. Health expenditure of a child was US$ 3 per year. The number of deaths and disabilities of children prevented were reduced was 2400 in 1995. Taking into account the population under 5 years, primary health care costed about US$ 3,000 a year for each child under 5 saved from death or disability. The cost of treatment such as open heart surgery or a kidney or liver transplant that year costed at least $ 10,000.
Conclusion: Based on the results of this study and review of the available literature, it was shown that in 1995 the cost effectiveness of primary health care compared to major operations such as open heart surgery or kidney transplantation was 18 times more than the cost of prevention in children under 5 years of age.