Cost-Effective Interventions that Focus on Most-at-Risk Populations

This paper explores the most cost-effective interventions for AIDS in countries with low and concentrated epidemics. These epidemics are traditionally driven by populations that are classified as “Most at Risk” The populations that make up this group are sex workers, men who have sex with men and intravenous drug users. These groups are heavily marginalized, and governments are often reluctant to allocate resources to programs that target these groups. This paper demonstrates how countries with low and concentrated epidemics can cut the costs of their AIDS programs but increase their impact on the overall epidemic, by reducing the incidence of new infections.