title: AIDS policy modeling for the 21st century: an overview of key issues.
abstract: Decisions about HIV prevention and treatment programs are based on factors such as program costs and health benefits, social and ethical issues, and political considerations. AIDS policy models--that is, models that evaluate the monetary and non-monetary consequences of decisions about HIV/AIDS interventions--can play a role in helping policy makers make better decisions. This paper provides an overview of the key issues related to developing useful AIDS policy models. We highlight issues of importance for researchers in the field of AIDS policy modeling as well as for policy makers. These include geographic area, setting, target groups, interventions, affordability and effectiveness of interventions, type and time horizon of policy model, and type of economic analysis. This paper is not intended to be an exhaustive review of the AIDS policy modeling literature, although many papers from the literature are discussed as examples; rather, we aim to convey the composition, achievements, and challenges of AIDS policy modeling.
authors.affiliation: University of Vienna, School of Business Economics and Computer Science, Institute of Business Studies, Department of Innovation and Technology Management, Austria. marion.rauner@univie.ac.at.
authors.forename: M S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Rauner
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Brandeau
mesh_terms: D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000191:economics / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000628:therapy; D003140:Communicable Disease Control; D003376:Counseling; D014943:Global Health; D006285:Health Planning; D006291:Health Policy; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000191:economics; D006801:Humans; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D011050:Policy Making; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D016635:Universal Precautions