An analysis of expenditure on HIV/AIDS patients in Zambia
According to the 2000/2001 Zambia Demographic and Health Survey (ZDHS), HIV/AIDS prevalence is 16% and is expected to be higher in the next five years. The disease is quite pervasive across all sectors of economic activity, but the impact is especially acute on the Zambian health sector, which is faced with increasing demands on healthcare for not only HIV/AIDS but other diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis, cholera, diarrhoea, to mention but a few. It is therefore essential that expenditure on HIV-related care among different health care systems be analysed so as to determine areas of relatively greater need. It is against this background that this study entitled, "An analysis of expenditure on HIVIAIDS patients in Zambia", was conducted. The main objective of the study is to analyse expenditure on HIV-related care and treatment among the different health care systems and geographical localities in Zambia. The study used utilisation data on total and HIV-related outpatient visits and inpatient days collected from the country's facility based database called the Health Management Information System (HMIS); and HIV-prevalence data compiled from the Central Statistics Office's report on Epidemiological Projections. Expenditure data on the other hand was compiled from the National Health Accounts (NHA) report for 1999-2002 and separate data on HIV/AIDS expenditure was collected from the District Health Boards reports for 2003. Utilisation and HIV-prevalence data were then combined with expenditure data to estimate the overall utilisation of services by HIV-positive patients and the annual expenditure required to meet the burden of HIV/AIDS. Both utilisation and expenditure statistics were analysed and compared according to different levels of healthcare and geographical localities. Data analysis was exploratory and descriptive.
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