Despite the remarkable scale-up of AIDS treatment and prevention programs in low and middle income countries in recent years, each year two million people die from AIDS (most without ever having received antiretrovirals ART) and 2.7 million are newly infected by HIV.
Published in the Public Library of Science (PLoS) One, “The Economic Returns to Investment in AIDS Treatment in Low and Middle Income Countries,” is one of the first efforts to look systematically at the expected economic benefits (returns) to large scale investment in AIDS treatment.
The study models three streams of future economic benefits accruing to the roughly 3 million persons who were on Global Fund supported treatment in 2010 in 98 countries around the world: (1) restored labor productivity amongst workers with AIDS, (2) orphan care expenditures avoided because parents remain alive on ART, and (3) delayed end-of-life care costs associated with death from AIDS. These streams of economic benefits were selected because they offset the cost of treatment over short time horizons and therefore may be especially salient to policy-makers concerned with health budgets, household economic stability and societal-level economic growth.
Using recent ART prices and program costs, the study estimates that the discounted resource needs required for this cohort of patients over the coming decade are US$14.2 billion.This investment is expected to save 18.5 million life years and return $12-34 billion. This yields economic benefits from ART ranging from 80% to 290% of program costs.
The study’s lead author is Stephen Resch, Deputy Director, Center for Health Decision Science, Harvard School of Public Health and R4D Senior Consultant. Fellow co-authors are Robert Hecht, R4D Managing Director; Rifat Atun, Director, Strategy, Performance and Evaluation Cluster, Global Fund; John Stover, President and founder of Futures Institute; Eline Korenromp, Officer Scientific and Performance Policy, Global Fund; Matthew Blakley, Global Fund; Carleigh Krubiner, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health; Kira Thorien, R4D Senior Program Associate.
To download a copy of the study, click the Download button above.
To read press coverage of Sec. Clinton’s speech, in which she references the report, in The Guardian click here.
To read press coverage of the report in the Wall Street Journal click here.
