Costing contraception: Evaluating the economic benefits of free contraception

The recent Senate inquiry into universal access to reproductive health recommended that that the Australian Government reviews, considers and implements options to make contraception more affordable for all people. One option is to make contraception available at "no cost" as currently occurs in the NHS, France and Canada. However it is unclear how to make this happen in the Australian context. In addition there is an absence of economic evidence to support investment in increased access to contraception. We have some evidence around specific initiatives in the UK and US and Aus from RCTs that increase contraceptive uptake but greater clarity is required regarding how making contraception totally free can be justified as cost saving from a "treasury" perspective demonstrating immediate benefits rather than long term benefits in reduced expenditure. This PhD would suit a domestic student interested in primary care, women's health and health economics with experience undertaking economic evaluations. The PhD student will be part of the SPHERE Centre of Research Excellence in Women's Sexual and Reproductive Health in Primary Care cosupervised by Prof Danielle Mazza AM (the SPHERE director) and Prof Cathy Mihalopoulos, Professor of Health Economics and Head, Monash University Health Economics Group.