HIV prevention programs proven cost-effective

With the average lifetime cost of treating HIV now estimated at $154,000, the pay-offs for preventing infection in the first place are high and well worth the cost of HIV prevention programs, a cost-effectiveness study claims.

Government scientists estimate that only 3,995 infections must be prevented annually to result in cost savings, and that only 1,255 infections must be prevented for the investment to be cost-effective.

"We have found that even if only a relatively small number of infections are prevented each year, HIV prevention programs save money," says David Holtgrave, PhD, director of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention.

Analysis of scores of studies on the risk behaviors of thousands of individuals has found that effective behavior change programs can slow the sexual spread of HIV, CDC scientists reported at the 12th World AIDS Conference in Geneva, Switzerland.