Abstract

Microscopic diagnosis, currently remains as the gold standard for detecting and identifying malaria parasites. Unfortunately this diagnostic tool is not always available, particularly at the peripheral level of the health care system, out side of the Java-Bali islands. Clinical diagnosis has been feasible at the periphery level of the health care system, where laboratory support does not exist, however this is not a very non specific method. For this reason, a fast, simple and cost effective diagnostic tool of malaria diagnosis that can be implemented in the control program, is required. Commercial kits are currently available to detect Plasmodium falciparum and P. vivax or P. falciparum only. These test are easy to perform and to interpret; they do not require electricity, special equipment or training. The objective of this study is to compare the cost effectiveness of the 2 diagnostic tools, between the convention (microscopic) and the rapid (ICT) diagnostic test. A cross sectional study design was conducted, for 186 malaria suspect cases, and measuring the cost effectiveness of microscopy and ICT diagnosis. The result showed that ICT as a diagnostic tool for malaria falciparum and malaria vivax was not more cost effective than microscopy, but it was a better tool for malaria falciparum only.