Early HIV Treatment Saves Lives
Countries should treat as many people as they can, as early as possible
29 December 2010
Demonstraters in Nairobi, Kenya on Thursday, Dec. 9, 2010, protest a potential free trade area agreement between the EU and India that could see cheap generic anti-AIDS drugs phased out. (AP Photo/Khalil Senosi)
Treatment for HIV has become more widespread, especially in poorer countries. It's also become cheaper, as pharmaceutical companies have lowered their prices for life-saving anti-retroviral drugs. But these drug regimens are still expensive and many countries are looking to create the biggest impact with scarce resources. That's where World Health Organization guidelines come in.
"If you read the guidelines, they talk about how you can prioritize by the need to make sure that everybody gets the same thing," Walensky says, "by the intervention that's going to save us the most lives. We need to prioritize by the intervention is going to give us the most bang for the buck or be most cost-effective."
Walensky and her colleagues used computer programs to model the most cost-effective disease interventions, as well as collected data from clinics in Africa and India about what works best. But cost-effective doesn't always mean affordable, especially for governments in poor countries. Countries still have to make difficult choices about how much treatment they can afford.
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2013-11-27
2013-11-27
2013-11-27
2013-11-27
2013-11-27
2013-11-27