Costing Guidelines for HIV Prevention Strategies

It is essential to know the costs of different prevention strategies to be able to set public policy priorities in the fight against AIDS. Hence this important costing tool, a new edition of Costing guidelines for HIV prevention strategies, first issued by UNAIDS in 1998. The guidelines now contain cost analysis worksheets and cover injecting drug users. In many developing countries economists are scarce, but these guidelines make it possible for other professionals such as accountants and planners to analyse costs. Such analyses must be combined with a judgement of an intervention’s outcome. That an intervention has a low cost does not necessarily mean it is worth while from an economic perspective; for example, if it does not slow the spread of the disease or has unwanted side-effects that outweigh benefits.