Guide to cost benefit analysis of community-based interventions

Abstract

This paper offers a general guide on how to conduct a proper economic analysis for community-based intervention projects. Identification and quantification of costs and benefits are the focus of the cost benefit analysis. We categorize costs and benefits from human and physical perspectives and pay special attention to the measures of saving human lives accompanied by the proposed calculation methods. We recommend net present value and benefit-cost ratio as the criteria to assess projects and highlight some challenges remaining in the analysis.