Redirecting Existing Resources In HIV/AIDS Fight Could Provide Better Return On Investment
“The scientific advances and the programs that have been developed over just the last few years now provide an historic opportunity to drive HIV to levels that we had previously not dared to hope for,” Tim Hallett, director of the HIV Modeling Consortium and reader in global health at Imperial College London, writes in a Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria blog post, adding, “There is a confluence of four forces that are working to make this happen: compelling evidence for the power of the interventions we deliver, falling costs, experience in getting the results we need and a revolution in our understanding of the epidemic.” He discusses advancements in prevention tools, as well as progress in understanding factors driving the epidemic. “Now that we have the tools and resources, we can leverage this new intelligence to squeeze even more impact out of the resources we have,” Hallett writes, adding, “Our computer models suggest that impact could increase by 20 percent, just by redirecting the same resources to the populations at greatest risk of infection and transmission.” He concludes, “Investment now — in the right interventions for the right populations at the right time — would save millions of lives, but also ‘soften’ the epidemic and give the goal of the AIDS-free generation compelling scientific backing” (5/27).
The KFF Daily Global Health Policy Report summarized news and information on global health policy from hundreds of sources, from May 2009 through December 2020. All summaries are archived and available via search.