The costs of anti-retroviral treatment in Zambia

The costs of public health sector provision of antiretroviral (ARV) therapy in Zambia

This report analyzes the costs and resource requirements associated with the provision of antiretroviral (ARV) therapy in the public health sector in Zambia. It provides per-patient cost estimates for highly active anti-retroviral therapy (HAART), voluntary counselling and testing, several opportunisticinfections, and prevention of mother-to-child transmission services.

These per-patient cost estimates are used to project total program costs, which are then compared to currently budgeted resources with an emphasis on financial sustainability.

The report also explores a range of policy issues, including:

the importance of human resource constraints
the implications of alternative monitoring protocols and drug regimens
opportunities for resource mobilization
and targeting issues

The provision of ARVs in Zambia is a dynamic issue: certain programmatic decisions have yet to be made, and both prices and technologiesare changing rapidly. Thus, the purpose of this report is to highlight the key questions related to HAART costs, rather than to propose any definitive answers. [author's abstract]

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The costs of anti-retroviral treatment in Zambia