Modeling and Optimal Management of Control Policies for Vector‐Borne Diseases: A Study of Cost‐Effectiveness and Policy Impact

ABSTRACT A comprehensive analysis of control policies with their cost‐effectiveness for vector‐borne diseases is demonstrated in this study with the help of a compartmental model that incorporates information‐induced self‐protection, saturated treatment, and usage of insecticides. To get the crucial and sensitive model parameters, normal forward sensitivity indices and partial rank correlation coefficients (PRCC) methods are executed for local and global sensitivity analyses, respectively. Furthermore, “Pontryagin's Maximum Principle” is applied to establish an optimal control problem, taking into account three time‐dependent controls: Information‐induced self‐protection, medical treatment, and usage of insecticides. Using these control measures, seven distinct control policies are designed and numerically well examined to get the optimal and economically feasible control policy (policies) that minimizes the disease burden. It is discovered that combining all three control interventions is most efficient in reducing the disease and total cost as well, whereas other policies also play a pivotal role under different constraints. Moreover, the impact of designed control policies on a certain range of the basic reproduction number is analyzed to measure the epidemic peaks (maximum disease prevalence). Additionally, the cost‐effectiveness analysis is conducted using the average cost‐effectiveness ratio (ACER), infection averted ratio (IAR), and the incremental cost‐effectiveness ratio (ICER) to vet the economic feasibility of applied control policies and found that combined usage of all controls is the most economically viable policy. To further examine the model dynamics, we have also investigated a simplified case by considering modified recruitment factors for susceptible human individuals and newborn infected human and vector populations. We found that both models have similar impacts on vector‐borne disease dynamics.