The Economics of HIV/AIDS in Low-Income Countries: The Case for Prevention

David Canning ()

PGDA Working Papers from Program on the Global Demography of Aging

Abstract: There are two approaches to reducing the burden of sickness and death associated with HIV/AIDS: treatment and prevention. With limited resources, should the focus be on prevention or treatment? I discuss the range of prevention and treatment alternatives, examine their cost effectiveness, and consider various arguments that have been raised against the use of cost-effectiveness analysis in setting priorities for health. I conclude that promoting AIDS treatment using antiretrovirals in resource-constrained countries comes at a huge cost in terms of avoidable deaths that could be prevented through interventions that would substantially lower the scale of the epidemic.

Keywords: HIV; AIDS; low income countries; treatment; prevention (search for similar items in EconPapers)
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-afr and nep-hea
Date: Written
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Journal Article: The Economics of HIV/AIDS in Low-Income Countries: The Case for Prevention (2006)
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