A new study conducted by the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI), in partnership with five African countries and the Center for Global Development, has determined that HIV treatment costs are far lower than previously believed. This study provides new evidence that aggressive scale‐up of high‐quality treatment in developing countries is possible and sustainable.
The study, the largest‐ever of its kind, was conducted at 161 health facilities in Ethiopia, Malawi, Rwanda, Zambia and South Africa over the course of 2011. It found that the average facility level cost of HIV treatment — which includes antiretrovirals (ARVs) and other drugs, laboratory tests, health worker salaries and other out‐patient costs — is an average of $200 per patient per year across the first four countries. In South Africa, the average is $682. (The difference was largely attributed to higher labor and laboratory costs in South Africa.)
At the same time, CHAI announced that it has negotiated new price reductions of up to 30% with generic drug makers for some of the most important ARVs used today. The new prices, effective immediately, are available to more than 70 countries included in CHAI’s procurement consortium. This latest price reduction was achieved with the generous support of UNITAID, the UK Department for International Development and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The Gates Foundation also provided funding for the costing study.
More: http://www.looktothestars.org/news/8692-bill-clinton-hiv-treatment-is-within-our-means
