Investments in community-based HIV prevention programs in Ontario over the past two and a half decades are assumed to have had an impact on the HIV epidemic, but they have never been systematically evaluated. To help close this knowledge gap, this study conducted a macro-level evaluation of investment in Ontario HIV prevention programs from the payer perspective. The results showed that, from 1987 to 2011, province-wide community-based programs helped to avert a total of 16,672 HIV infections, saving Ontario's health care system approximately $6.5 billion Canadian dollars (range 4.8-7.5B). They also show that these community-based HIV programs were cost-saving: from 2005 to 2011, every dollar invested in these programs saved about $5. This study is an important first step in understanding the impact of investing in community-based HIV prevention programs in Ontario and recognizing the impact that these programs have had in reducing HIV infections and health care costs. |
