Protecting the Public from HIV/AIDS: Vaccines & Interventions - Research Paper

Introduction

HIV/AIDS is a disease that develops once one contracts HIV, and one of its significant adverse effects is that it damages the immune system. Therefore, as one of the widely spread infectious diseases, it is necessary to ensure that there are interventions that are in place to protect the public (Aidala et al., 2016). As it stands, there have been vaccinations that have been developed for other forms of highly infectious diseases such as Polio, but HIV/AIDS is not among these illnesses (Park, Hernandez-Ramirez, Silverberg, Crothers, & Dubrow, 2016). For this reason, the program dubbed "Know Her, Know Him Health Communication Campaign" is developed as a means to address its effectiveness in mitigating the prevalence of HIV/AIDS. By exploring the concept of cost-effectiveness analysis, it is possible to adopt its dynamics to use in the evaluation of the viability and efficiency of the program that has been developed to address the prevalence of HIV/AIDS.

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Community and Intervention

As much as this campaign can be incorporated across all age groups in all parts of the world, the target community that will be the beneficiary of this undertaking are adults aged above 18 years who are living with HIV/AIDS. By targeting this individual group of people, this initiative seeks to ensure that they get to live longer and healthier lives. The reasons as to why this particular group was selected were because this condition remains untreatable (Colasanti, Stahl, Farber, del Rio, & Armstrong, 2017). On the contrary, its cause is known to make it easier to prevent its prevalence. Within the initiative "Know Her, Know Him Health Communication Campaign," there are preventive measures which once undertaken helps the group top avoid spread of the virus. At the same time, the initiative pays attention to the stigma as well as the misconceptions that are aligned with HIV/AIDS (Park et al., 2016). Thus, adopting the strategy would help prevent new cases and keep the number at a limited level.

Cost-Effectiveness Analysis (CEA)

It is possible to tailor CEA so that its objectives can be aligned to the needs and goals of the selected community. In that case, CEA entails estimation of the costs as well as the resultant health gains of a given intervention (Rutstein, Price, Rosenberg, Rennie, Biddle, & Miller, 2017). Thus, performing CEA for the program "Know Her, Know Him Health Communication Campaign," is characterised by highlighting the cost of incorporating the strategy as well as identifying the perceived benefits. Benefits are easily identified depending on the objectives of the program. Considering that this health initiative is driven by the need to ensure that people infected with HIV/AIDS live longer and healthier, CEA comes in handy by making possible to highlight the health status of the affected by looking at the quality of their lives based on health (Keshmiri, Coyte, Laporte, Sheth, & Loutfy, 2019). CEA also works by quantifying gains as well as the setbacks that are anticipated. Benefits that are evaluated are in the form of disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) to identify whether an initiative is worth pursuing.

Measuring Public Health Benefit

As had been earlier implied, CEA is a technique that helps regulate the overall public health benefit of this initiative. The usefulness of CEA in measuring the efficiency of this undertaking is by use of disability-adjusted life years (DALYs). Such an approach is characterized by an assessment of mortality and mobility effects (Oddershede et al., 2016). Net costs can also be quantified in the form of the program requirements. With this program, the costs of the prevention measures and the costs of undertaking mass education to address the misconceptions and stigma are assessed with CEA. Lastly, as part of the analysis process, the number of years and quality of life for those infected is also noted (Hellinger, 2015). In doing so, the impact of "Know Her, Know Him Health Communication Campaign" can be identified to Ascertain whether it is viable and effective.

One Pubic Program Vs Another

The decision to invest in one public program over many others has always been challenging. However, the best approach has always been investing in many health programs. In doing so, even if one of the undertakings does not yield the anticipated outcome, others act as a back-up and mitigate the adverse effects that might be resultant (Neumann, Sanders, Russell, Siegel, & Ganiats, 2016). On the same note, the best approach would be to invest in many public health programs as they are more likely to have a significant impact on the public as opposed to one whose influence is more likely to be limited (Dieleman, Baral, Birger, Bui, A. L., Bulchis, Chapin, & Lavado, 2016). Hence, it is cost-effective to allocate resources to many health programs (such as "Know Her, Know Him Health Communication Campaign") as it is likely to impact the targeted community as well as other groups positively.

Economic Concepts

Budgetary allocations are one of the financial concepts that are employed in the distribution of resources to public health initiatives. The concept applies in that the resources that are allocated have to be within the budget limits to avoid exaggerated expenses and misappropriation of funds (Mohammed, North, & Ashton, 2016). Cost-benefit analysis, in addition to the above, is an economic principle that is employed in the process of resource allocation. The policy is characterised by identifying estimated costs and comparing them to the benefits in terms of outcome (Mohammed, North, & Ashton, 2016). Selection is based on the initiative that has the least cost and best result.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) is necessary if the initiative "Know Her, Know Him Health Communication Campaign" is to be evaluated as effective and efficient. The evaluation process, which is adopted by this approach, showcases that this strategy is effective and is likely to yield enhanced outcomes. Therefore, the public health program should be incorporated for the targeted community, which is individuals living with HIV/AIDS that are aged above 18 years.

References

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