Out-of-pocket costs of HAART limit HIV treatment responses in Botswana's private sector

Abstract

A large number of HIV-infected patients in sub-Saharan Africa pay out-of-pocket for HAART. This analysis from Botswana indicates that higher median out-of-pocket regimen costs to patients for the initial 30 days of HAART are associated with failure to achieve a viral load< 400 copies/ml [US$32; interquartile range (IQR), 20-84 compared with US$22; (IQR, 17-36), P = 0.001]. HAART costs should be minimized as scale-up efforts in sub-Saharan Africa progress.