Cost-Effectiveness Evaluation of Public Health Surveillance Systems in Uganda: A Randomized Field Trial

Public health surveillance systems are crucial for monitoring disease outbreaks and managing health risks in Uganda. A randomized field trial was conducted to assess different configurations of public health surveillance systems. Participants were randomly assigned to one of several intervention groups, each with varying levels of resources and personnel deployment. The analysis revealed significant cost savings when the system configuration included real-time data analytics software (direction: 20% reduction in operational costs) and increased community engagement through targeted health education campaigns (proportion: 15% decrease in hospital admissions for preventable diseases). The randomized field trial demonstrated that optimised public health surveillance systems can lead to substantial cost savings without compromising effectiveness. Implementing real-time data analytics software and integrating community engagement strategies are recommended to enhance the efficiency of future public health surveillance efforts in Uganda. Public Health Surveillance, Cost-Effectiveness, Randomized Field Trial, Real-Time Analytics, Community Engagement Treatment effect was estimated with $\text{logit}(p_i)=\beta_0+\beta^\top X_i$, and uncertainty reported using confidence-interval based inference.