AEGiS-APPJ: The Role of Cost-Effectiveness Analysis in Assessing HIV-Prevention Interventions

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1997. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

The Role of Cost-Effectiveness Analysis in Assessing HIV-Prevention Interventions

AIDS & Public Policy Journal 12, no. 1 (Spring 1997): 21-30
J.G. Kahn and K.C. Haynes Sanstad

HIV-prevention interventions can "work." Multiple studies report that a wide range of interventions reduce individuals' behavior that puts them at high risk of contracting HIV. In certain populations, change in individuals' behavior has contributed to decreases in HIV incidence of as much as 75 percent. This appears to justify renewed and aggressive prevention activities, especially in light of disappointing efforts to identify a vaccine or cure. We argue that if the goal of prevention is to alter the course of the HIV epidemic, perfection is not only unattainable, it is unnecessary. Instead, we must shun absolutism, and "quantify our nonabsolutism"; we must apply important and subtle standards, by asking: How much behavioral change is enough to justify a prevention program? How can we use available funding to avert the largest number of infections?
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