ARV Treatment: Special Focus
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ARV Treatment: Special Focus Back to Main Page |
| As context for this discussion of ethics, it is useful to look at Figure 4.3 in Chapter 4 of "Confronting AIDS", posted on this site. Even among high income dountries, only half pay more than three-quarters of the cost of all health care. Among low-income countries, only one quarter pay more than two-thirds of the cost of care. In this context, it becomes obvious that an argument for government subsidies to pay for most of the cost of ARV therapy for AIDS patients in developing coutnries is an argument to establish a policy for AIDS that is very different from that towards the rest of health care. One can argue for this on either of two grounds. First, one can attempt to establish that AIDS is different, deserving of much higher subsidies than could be obtained by patients with cancer or heart disease, for example. My own belief is that, while AIDS is different from other diseases in many repects, these differences are not yet sufficiently large as to make its treatment unusually deserving of subsidies. Second, one could argue that government should fund all health care costs and that AIDS is simply a good place to start. My reaction to this argument is that government funding of all health care costs is a legitimate objective, but needs to be addressed realistically in the context of a discussion of overall health sector reform. As part of that discussion, one would have to address the tradeoffs between spending money on subsidizing health care and spending it on prevention of HIV and other illnesses and on other important development objectives. I personally would like guidance on how to think about addressing AIDS treatment policy in the context of health sector reform. In hopes that some of the participants in this discussion can offer such guidance, I've added a thread on that topic. |
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