News

Dr Sue Cleary has written a commentary for Health Policy and Planning titled ‘Trade-offs in scaling up HIV treatment in South Africa’ (Jan 2010).

This commentary takes a different perspective on the equity/efficiency trade-off through focusing on how the cost-effectiveness of the chosen treatment strategy has an influence on the costs of scaling up as well as the constraints of going to scale, and ultimately on coverage or equitable access for all in need. These ideas are illustrated with reference to the case of HIV treatment (where HIV treatment is defined to include treatment and prophylaxis of opportunistic infections and events including tuberculosis treatment if required with some form of antiretroviral treatment—ART) in the South African public health care system.