Algorithms for Purchasing AIDS Vaccines
The authors delineate two different algorithms for the purchase of AIDS vaccines, to show how differences in policy objectives can greatly affect projections of the number of courses of vaccine that will be needed. They consider a hypothetical vacc...
Main Authors: | , , |
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Format: | Policy Research Working Paper |
Language: | English en_US |
Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2014
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Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2000/04/437234/algorithms-purchasing-aids-vaccines http://hdl.handle.net/10986/18838 |
Summary: | The authors delineate two different
algorithms for the purchase of AIDS vaccines, to show how
differences in policy objectives can greatly affect
projections of the number of courses of vaccine that will be
needed. They consider a hypothetical vaccine costing ten
dollars to produce, and offering sixty percent, seventy five
percent, and ninety percent reductions in the risk of HIV
for ten years. For each of the world's ten major
geographic divisions, they sue published estimates of the
risk of AIDS, the value of medical costs averted, and the
value of potential productivity losses. Under the
"health sector" algorithm - in which purchases are
made to minimize the impact of AIDS/HIV on government health
spending - 766 million courses of vaccine would be
purchased. Under the "societal" algorithm - in
which purchases are made to minimize the impact of AIDS/HIV
on health spending and GDP - more than 3.7 billion courses
of vaccine would be purchased. Under an "equity"
model - allocating vaccines to everyone in the world at high
risk, as if they had the financial resources of Western
Europeans - vaccine would be offered to 4.7 billion people.
For a Western European man, reducing the risk of AIDS/HIV
would be a $789 concern; in Africa, the comparable risk
would be a $48,577 crisis. The authors conclude that
financing AIDS vaccines solely on the fixed budget of a
ministry of health, means large vulnerable populations
wouldn't receive the vaccine. Allocating the vaccine
based on society's ability to pay would still exclude
many poor infants who would probably be immunized if they
were born in more developed regions. Policymakers concerned
about equity in health care must redouble efforts to making
the financing of development, and distribution of AIDS
vaccines, a global, not a regional concern. |
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