Introduction:

Calculation of the economic burden caused by pneumococcal diseases in pre-school age children in the primary health care of Cuba contributes to visualize the need for finding ways to prevent them.

Objective:

To estimate the economic burden caused by the pneumococcal disease in pre-school age children from ´´Playa´´ Teaching Policlinic during 2016.

Methods:

It was conducted a descriptive cross-sectional study. For estimating the economic burden, it was used the approach of cost of the disease based on the incidence and from the institutional perspective. For calculating the cost of the care per patient, it was used the method of cost-patient-type.

Results:

Acute otitis media was the disease with higher incidence with 49% of the cases, followed by pneumonia with 47%. The expected cost by diseases was among 47,97 CUP (Cuban peso) and 103,38 CUP for acute otitis media; among 83,99 CUP and 194,94 CUP for pneumonia; and among 105,69 CUP and 189,97 CUP for meningitis and sepsis. Within the processes, home visits showed the higher expense, and among the entries, it was the salary. Pneumococcal disease represented an economic burden of 8849,15 CUP for the studied health area.

Conclusions:

Pneumococcal disease in children does not represent a high level of incidence in the area of ´´Playa´´ Teaching Policlinic, but it represents an economic burden for health services in the primary care level. These costs are likely to decrease with the introduction of the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine.

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