ASSESSMENT OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF PREVENTION PROGRAMS FOR COUNTERMEASURE OF SPREAD OF SOCIALLY IMPORTANT INFECTIONS
Purpose of the study. To evaluate the effectiveness of the prevention programs aimed at the prevention of the spread of socially important infections on example of HIV infection, as well to express it in units permitting the comparison with other fields of health care and to compare with to expenses for the prevention and treatment of sequelae of infection. Materials and methods. Results of the panel study, executed in 2006-2013 in 10 regions of the Russian Federation in HIV infection risk groups (4 waves). The total number of participants is 9891. Study protocol included detailed survey of risk behavior, involvement in prevention programs and HIV testing. Obtained data were used for the assessment of the change of the morbidity rate as a result of prevention and calibration of the dynamic (Markov) model of the effect of the prevention on the length of quality-adjusted life and treatment cost. Expenses for the prevention were estimated from field reports of prevention projects. Results. Programs for the comprehensive prevention of socially important infections, first of all HIV-infections, among injecting drug users result in the significant decrease in HIV incidence. The assessment of the effect of the prevention within framework of the multivariable model shows odds ratio to be of 0.56 (95% CI=0.40-0.78). This relative reduction corresponds to the decline of the absolute incidence from 3.98 per 100 person per year in the group of persons who was not involved in prevention programs (95% CI=3.37-4.69) to 2.22 per 100 person per year (95% CI=1.89-2.62) among participants. Such effect of the prevention leads to the increase in quality-adjusted life-years per each person (QALY=0.23, 95% CI=0.10-0.37), and the saving of budget cost by 226 thousand rubles (95% CI=209,6 - 822,2 thousand rubles). With the use of more pessimistic assumptions in relation to expenses for the prevention and treatment, the cost per quality-adjusted life per year failed to surpass the threshold of society’s willingness to pay for health technology, with demonstrating high cost-effectiveness of investing in the prevention. Conclusion. Programs of the comprehensive prevention of socially important infections in the Russian Federation have significant effectiveness and under most plausible assumptions are cost-saving. For the solution the problem of financing preventive measures it is necessary to apply the same principles of health technology assessment as it is done is the area of drug coverage.