November 11, 2008

Presenters:
David Wilson, Lead Monitoring & Evaluation Specialist, HDNGA
Jed Friedman, Senior Economist, DECRG
Damien de Walque, Economist, DECRG

Discussant:
Shanta Devarajan, Chief Economist, AFRCE

Chair:
Mariam Claeson, AIDS Coordinator, South Asia Region, SASHD

This session brought together new analysis of the economic development risk of HIV and AIDS in low prevalence settings, such as the Asian scenario. It included presentations of the dynamics of concentrated epidemics and the risk of escalation, the cost benefits of prevention interventions in low prevalence settings and the fiscal costs of scaling up treatment of AIDS.  The presentations were followed by discussions on analyzing the economic welfare costs, including the disproportionate impact on key population groups and the economic impact on households.

- The fiscal burden of AIDS treatment on South Asian health care systems (PDF)

- Understanding the returns to prevention in a low-prevalence setting (PDF)

- AIDS – is it a risk to development in low-prevalence settings? (PDF)