ECONOMIC EVALUATION OF SUBSTANCE ABUSE TREATMENT AND HIV/AIDS PREVENTION FOR WOMEN
A fundamental problem at the intersection of economics, substance abuse, infectious diseases, risky behavior and equity is a lack of understanding of the costs and effectiveness of treatment options for underserved and marginalized populations, facilities and areas. Drug abuse and transmission of HIV during pregnancy are public health problems that adversely affect pregnant women, their children and surrounding communities. Programs that address this vulnerable population have the ability to be cost-effective due to resulting cost savings for mother, child and society.
HOW DO WE EVALUATE THESE PROGRAMS?
Economic evaluations of these programs are an important tool to better understand the costs of services and create sustainable health care systems. We conducted a systematic review to assess cost and outcomes of drug abuse treatment and HIV prevention programs for pregnant women in the US and internationally.
METHODS
RESULTS
IMPLICATIONS
We conducted a systematic review of studies of drug abuse treatment and HIV/AIDS prevention among pregnant women and evaluated the quality of each study to determine the cost-effectiveness of each intervention
We found that many programs for drug abuse treatment and prevention of mother-to-child transmission are cost-effective and even cost-saving, but economic evaluations across studies differed greatly in approach and evaluation methods.
This study identified several shortcomings in methodology and lack of standardization of economic evaluations. Efforts to address methodological challenges will help make future studies more comparable and have more influence on policy makers, clinicians and the public.