Are long-lasting insecticide-treated bednets and water filters cost-effective tools for delaying HIV disease progression in Kenya?

Abstract

Background: Co-infection with malaria and other infectious diseases has been shown to increase viral load and accelerate HIV disease progression. A recent study in Kenya demonstrated that providing long-lasting insecticide-treated bednets (LLIN) and water filters (WF) to HIV-positive adults with CD4 >350 cells/mm3 significantly reduced HIV progression. Design: We conducted a cost analysis to estimate the potential net financial savings gained by delaying HIV progression and increasing the time to antiretroviral therapy (ART) eligibility through delivering LLIN and WF to 10% of HIV-positive adults with CD4 >350 cells/mm3 in Kenya. Results: Given a 3-year duration of intervention benefit, intervention unit cost of US$32 and patient-year ART cost of US$757 (2011 US$), over the lifetime of ART patients, in Kenya, we estimated the intervention could yield a return on investment (ROI) of 11 (95$2 million and savings in ART costs of about US$26 million (95$14 million, decreasing the ROI to 6. Conclusions: Provision of LLIN and WF could be a cost-saving and practical method to defer time to ART eligibility in the context of highly resource-constrained environments experiencing donor fatigue for HIV/AIDS programs