Study reveals cost-saving measures can offset ART costs
With almost four million patients, the South African national public-sector antiretroviral treatment programme is the largest in the world.
And increases in antiretroviral treatment costs for HIV/AIDS patients in the country have been offset by the introduction of cost-saving measures and universal treatment, according to a study led by a researcher from the Health Economics and Epidemiology Research Office (HE2RO), a collaboration between Wits’ School of Medicine and Boston University’s School of Public Health.
The study, published this month in PLoS ONE, an internationally regarded science and medical journal, analysed the cost of the national South African HIV treatment programme and estimated the expected cost and impact of treatment guidelines issued by the World Health Organization (WHO) between 2009 and 2016. Those guidelines aimed to increase eligibility for antiretroviral treatment (ART) whilst providing better drugs for patients.
The local ARV programme is also one of the few in Africa funded mostly from domestic resources, rather than by international donors. The cost of this programme remains one of the major challenges confronting the South African government. Over the last eight years, the National Department of Health faced the double challenge of expanding eligibility for and coverage of the HIV treatment programme while simultaneously reducing the per-person cost of treatment.
Source: iol.co.za