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

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  • David Canning

    (Harvard School of Public Health)

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.

Suggested Citation

  • David Canning, 2006. "The Economics of HIV/AIDS in Low-Income Countries: The Case for Prevention," PGDA Working Papers 1806, Program on the Global Demography of Aging.
    • Handle: RePEc:gdm:wpaper:1806
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    File URL: http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/pgda/WorkingPapers/2006/PGDA_WP_18.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    HIV; AIDS; low income countries; treatment; prevention;
    All these keywords.

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