Research summary
Infectious diseases, such as COVID-19, West Nile virus, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and even the common cold don’t just threaten our health—they cost governments around the world hundreds of billions of dollars. In fact, the COVID-19 pandemic cost the Canadian government an estimated $294 billion in the first eight months alone.
Dr. Beate Sander, Canada Research Chair in Economics of Infectious Diseases, is developing economic strategies to evaluate interventions to combat infectious and vector-borne diseases. She and her research team are addressing challenges in the use of costing data in economic evaluations, the need for disease-specific and comprehensive simulation models, and the broader societal impact of infectious diseases and their interventions. Ultimately, they hope to reinforce Canada’s leadership in the economic evaluation of infectious diseases and inform the timely implementation of changes to health policies.