[Principles of economic evaluation in intervention programmes].

Since human and financial resources are limited there is a need to use them for justified health care projects. Cost-effectiveness is one, but not the only criterion which health care system may be asked to respect. This paper presents the principles of economic analysis as a tool of evaluation in intervention programmes. It describes the three most commonly used methods: cost-effectiveness, cost-utility and cost-benefit analysis. An overview of concepts, calculation techniques and real applications of economic evaluation are presented. A review of the literature showed, that cost-utility and cost-benefit methods are developing very fast, and that is an increasing interest in knowledge and attitudes of decision-makers towards economic evaluation.