An intervention that Iran implemented to reduce the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic was to screen passengers during the Iranian New Year holidays (17 March to 3 April 2020). The purpose of this study is to examine the costs and benefits of using volunteers in this program for the Iranian government. Using the cost-benefit analysis method, the national data of the screening program were analyzed. A total of 83,810 volunteers worked on the project for 17 days, which cost $ 27,7811. If the Iranian government had hired permanent employees instead of using volunteers, it would have cost $ 558733 more. It is used wage replacement method for calculating cost of voluntary work using the minimum wage of workers in Iran in 2020. Volunteer Investment and Value Audit (VIVA) rate also showed that $ 2 was saved for every dollar the Iranian government spent. It can be concluded that the use of volunteers, especially in volunteer-oriented programs in times of disaster, including epidemics, can be economically beneficial to the government. At the same time, it should be noted that the use of volunteers is also costly, and the government must identify the optimal number of volunteers before implementation. Moreover, if there are several plans on the table to intervene, the Viva rate can be a measure of cost-effectiveness.
The Costs of Using Volunteers in a COVID-19 pandemic Response Program in Iran