Allocating HIV-Prevention Resources: Balancing Efficiency and Equity
- 1 December 2002
- journal article
- Published by American Public Health Association in American Journal of Public Health
- Vol. 92 (12), 1905-1907
- https://doi.org/10.2105/ajph.92.12.1905
Abstract
The primary goal of HIV prevention is to prevent as many infections as possible. This requires allocating HIV-prevention resources according to costeffectiveness principles: those activities that prevent more infections per dollar are favored over those that prevent fewer. This is not current practice in the United States, where prevention resources from the federal government to the states flow in proportion to reported AIDS cases. Although such allocations might be considered equitable, more infections could be prevented for the same expenditures were cost-effectiveness principles invoked. The downside of pure cost-effective allocations is that they violate common norms of equity. In this article, we argue for a middle ground that promotes both equity and efficiency in allocating federal HIV-prevention resources.Keywords
This publication has 2 references indexed in Scilit:
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- Uncertainties in the estimation of HIV prevalence and incidence in the United States.American Journal of Public Health, 1996