Question

10. In a recent journal article, Philipson and Jena (2006) stady HIV urvival and exxpe ditures. Figure 13.9 shows trends in HIV urvival and HIV penditares in the US. Figure 13.9: Trends in HIV survival and expenditures in the U.S. (a) HIV survival curves, 1980-2000. (b) HIV expenditures, 1986-2004. a. Figure 13.9(a) shows that HIV survival after diagnosis improved dramatically over a twenty year period. Propose three explanations for this fact., one involving pharmacen tical innovation, one involving improved HIV screening, and one involving demographic changes in the at-risk population. It is okay if these explanations do not reflect actual historical developments, but they should explain why survival after diagnosis might be improving over time. 4

Answer 1

Answer a :-

1) Between 1996 and 2013 the survival rate of people with HIV has improved substantially. The mortality rate went lower due to the drugs injected lead to better initial regiments with greater effectiveness and fewer side effects. The Pharmaceutical inventions has improved since 2006 and a single daily pill formulations with fewer drug interactions are easily available in the market .

2) formulation of proper clinics which have proved to increase the life expectancy rate have encouraged patients to engage in risk reduction programs to cease smoking and engage in strict adherence to HIV prevention programs point National HIV strategy has am to increase access to care, improved health outcomes and address health inequalities among people with HIV.

3) people of Europe, united States and the western countries for the first one to find proper medications and Healthcare services for this epidemics point This lead to the decrease of HIV patients in the western countries, however the high level and continued prevalence of HIV in parts of sub-saharan Africa has increased there adult mortality largely infected a large portion of population and forming a major chunk off the percentage of people suffering from HIV all over the world. Thus the mortality rate of people suffering from HIV has lowered at a very high rate which is is not clearly detectable in the above graph as it contains figures of sub-saharan Africa area also.

Answer b :-

The above vaccines Are a standard treatment for all HIV patients and and is the most cost effective method of treating such patients however according to this fact the cost of treatment graph should have been negatively sloped however it has shown a substantial increase according to the figure 13.9. The reason for the above is the number of patients and cases that have increased over the years which directly means more expenditure on the above treatment however it has not shown that what was the mortality rate before using such vaccines and how the lifespan of these patients has increased drastically after the use of this vaccines. If we calculate life to cost analysis of these patients there is a clear indication of the cost effectiveness of the above vaccine.

Answer c :-

The number of patients who die due to complication from HIV has decrease to half of that reported A decade earlier because HAART vaccination are largely responsible for substantial declines in HIV related morbidity and mortality. The number of new annual infections have been reduced by more than 60% since 1985. However approximately 1.2 million people are living with this disease which have costs associated with lifetime treatment of this infection which include accessing medical care, HIV medications, cost for treating morbidd conditions and frequent and lengthy hospitalizations which are quite common for this disease .This has increased the cost of Expenditure over the years which has been depicted in the above graph.

Answer d :-

As already mentioned in the above part, these cost are not the exact expenditure done on the HAART vaccines, instead it it is is the increased cost of medications, hospitalizations, medical care services that are being consumed by these patients over their lifespan which has increased due to use of such vaccines .earlier people suffering from AIDS had a reduce lifespan and therefore the expenditure on the treatment was low due to fewer numbers of years they were living after being infected .However increase numbers of years due to use of vaccines has increased the cost as the Medical Services as they are being consumed for a longer period of time.

Answer e :-

If we divide the total expenditure done by a HIV patient after being diagnosed who has started to take vaccination and medical care services by the number of years he lived after being diagnosed , we will find that the average annual expenditure is increasing at a steady rate and the cost of using this vaccines has not been higher as depicted in the above graph which has not taken into consideration the Increase life span of the HIV patients after the use of heart vaccines due to which the money spent on HIV treatment has increased over years.