Tracing the AIDS money - BHIP
THATO CHWAANE
Staff Writer
| Friday November 2, 2007 00:00
Study Programme Manager, Gillian Moalosi, says that the overall purpose of it was to 'estimate the magnitude of overall financial flows by ultimate sources of finance and providers of health services for health and HIV/AIDS and project the share of total spending borne by households, government, firms and NGOs'.
The data collection that started on October 15 in Gaborone will be ongoing until 2008 and it will supplement the National Health Accounts study conducted by the ministry by adding information about spending on AIDS.
Moalosi said as the ARV treatment programs are currently expanding in Botswana, it is expected to involve substantial new commitments of resources.
'These resource demands to treat people with HIV/AIDS, when made in a setting such as Botswana where resources are limited, may run up against other highly desirable social and health objectives.
'Examples are improved health outcomes related to other diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis, improved child nutrition, better reproductive health services, prevention of new HIV cases and expanded care and support for orphans,' she said.
She said if the ARV or HIV intervention programs were to expand further, it would naturally raise the concern about the sustainability of such a strategy in the medium term, including any implications, positive or negative for the long run economic outcomes.
She said that policymakers needed to be informed on a continuous basis of the overall flow of funds for health in Botswana from the perspective of who is financing such spending, and the purposes for which it is being used.
Moalosi said the information on resource flows and their current and projected uses will better enable policymakers to assess overall resource constraints, choose among competing demands on health resources.
She said, depending on the nature of these flows, they would identify policy mechanisms best able to achieve desired health objectives.
'For instance, if a significant chunk of health expenditures is likely to be financed out of the pocket by households, it may well be that interventions that enable a more effective use of household resources for health are more likely to achieve health goals.
'At the same time, large health expenditures by households may be symptomatic of serious health system deficiencies, including a lack of adequate medical assistance mechanisms for needy families,' Moalosi said.
Hence, she said, this may call for increases in public spending and promotion of other financing mechanisms that can lower household burdens.