Needling the entitlement balloon: Assumptions, cost projections and flaws in the Centre for Global Development's AIDSCost model

dc.contributor.authorMacDevette, Matthew
dc.date.accessioned2016-04-26T10:27:34Z
dc.date.available2016-04-26T10:27:34Z
dc.date.issued2011
dc.date.updated2016-04-26T09:47:03Z
dc.description.abstractThe recently developed AIDSCost model was designed to forecast the future financial burden of global antiretroviral treatment (ART) up until 2050, and has been used to claim that ART treatment is too expensive for developing countries. This paper interrogates the structure and outputs of the AIDSCost model. Firstly, we investigate the model's assumptions and find a number of flaws in its makeup, the most significant being the unrealistic way in which ART coverage expands. These make it inappropriate for use in many real-world policy settings. Secondly, we compare the model's outputs for South Africa to those of ASSA2003, South Africa's most highly developed AIDS modelling tool, for the period 2007-2016 as a test of the former's accuracy. We find that, even when applying a number of different ART coverage and costing scenarios, AIDSCost overestimates the future burden of ART by as much as 100%. Though the model's costing function is disputable, the most serious errors underlie the calculation of vital outputs on which costing depends, most notably AIDS death rates, the number of those on ART and HIV prevalence. Accordingly, we argue that the model should be subjected to thorough refinement before it is used by anyone. Further, we argue that AIDSCost co-author Mead Over, in employing the model to show that "ballooning" ART burdens will overwhelm US aid budgets, generates unreliable figures which severely overestimate the future financial burden of global ART.en_ZA
dc.identifier.apacitationMacDevette, M. (2011). <i>Needling the entitlement balloon: Assumptions, cost projections and flaws in the Centre for Global Development's AIDSCost model</i> University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Centre for Social Science Research(CSSR). Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/11427/19210en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationMacDevette, Matthew <i>Needling the entitlement balloon: Assumptions, cost projections and flaws in the Centre for Global Development's AIDSCost model.</i> University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Centre for Social Science Research(CSSR), 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/19210en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationMacDevette, M. (2011). Needling the Entitlement Balloon: Assumptions, Cost Projections and Flaws in the Centre for Global Development's AIDSCost Model. Centre for Social Science Research, University of Cape Town.en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Working Paper AU - MacDevette, Matthew AB - The recently developed AIDSCost model was designed to forecast the future financial burden of global antiretroviral treatment (ART) up until 2050, and has been used to claim that ART treatment is too expensive for developing countries. This paper interrogates the structure and outputs of the AIDSCost model. Firstly, we investigate the model's assumptions and find a number of flaws in its makeup, the most significant being the unrealistic way in which ART coverage expands. These make it inappropriate for use in many real-world policy settings. Secondly, we compare the model's outputs for South Africa to those of ASSA2003, South Africa's most highly developed AIDS modelling tool, for the period 2007-2016 as a test of the former's accuracy. We find that, even when applying a number of different ART coverage and costing scenarios, AIDSCost overestimates the future burden of ART by as much as 100%. Though the model's costing function is disputable, the most serious errors underlie the calculation of vital outputs on which costing depends, most notably AIDS death rates, the number of those on ART and HIV prevalence. Accordingly, we argue that the model should be subjected to thorough refinement before it is used by anyone. Further, we argue that AIDSCost co-author Mead Over, in employing the model to show that "ballooning" ART burdens will overwhelm US aid budgets, generates unreliable figures which severely overestimate the future financial burden of global ART. DA - 2011 DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 2011 T1 - Needling the entitlement balloon: Assumptions, cost projections and flaws in the Centre for Global Development's AIDSCost model TI - Needling the entitlement balloon: Assumptions, cost projections and flaws in the Centre for Global Development's AIDSCost model UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/19210 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/19210
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationMacDevette M. Needling the entitlement balloon: Assumptions, cost projections and flaws in the Centre for Global Development's AIDSCost model. 2011 [cited yyyy month dd]. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/19210en_ZA
dc.languageengen_ZA
dc.publisher.departmentCentre for Social Science Research(CSSR)en_ZA
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Humanitiesen_ZA
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.titleNeedling the entitlement balloon: Assumptions, cost projections and flaws in the Centre for Global Development's AIDSCost modelen_ZA
dc.typeWorking Paperen_ZA
uct.type.filetypeText
uct.type.filetypeImage
uct.type.publicationResearchen_ZA
uct.type.resourceResearch paperen_ZA
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