The global impact of scaling up HIV/AIDS prevention programs in low- and middle-income countries.

A strong, global commitment to expanded prevention programs targeted at sexual transmission and transmission among injecting drug users, started now, could avert 28 million new HIV infections between 2005 and 2015. This figure is more than half of the new infections that might otherwise occur during that period in 125 low- and middle-income countries. Although preventing these new infections would require investing about U.S.$122 billion over this period, it would reduce future needs for treatment and care. Our analysis suggests that it will cost about U.S.$3900 to prevent each new infection, but that this will produce a savings of U.S.$4700 in forgone treatment and care costs. Thus, greater spending on prevention now would not only prevent more than half the new infections that would occur from 2005 to 2015 but would actually produce a net financial saving as future costs for treatment and care are averted

Strategic information for HIV programmes

The concept of a country-based HIV strategic information system described in this chapter encompasses a much broader scope than the monitoring of behavioural and epidemiological trends. The notion of strategic information is derived from the military and the private sectors, where information plays a crucial role in formulating, implementing, and evaluating strategies. In HIV, strategic information is now being seen as the cornerstone of an evidence-informed approach to the decision making required for designing and implementing effective prevention, treatment and care programmes. The data sources and methods used in collecting strategic information vary, but typically rely on data from surveillance systems and special surveys, health management information systems, programme and service monitoring, and operational research. It can be defined as acquiring, analyzing, and making use of relevant, consistent, accurate, timely, and affordable information from multiple sources in support of HIV strategies for the purpose of programme and service improvement.SCOPUS: ch.binfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe