Universal antenatal HIV testing could be cost effective in UK

Screening all pregnant women for HIV would be cost effective in Britain provided that costs are kept low and uptake high. Ades et al conducted a cost effectiveness analysis of universal compared with selective antenatal screening (p 1230). Their model suggests that as long as it is worth paying £10 000 per additional life year gained, universal antenatal HIV screening would be more cost effective than selective testing. However in areas of low prevalence uptake must be above 90% and test costs as low as £0.60 to allow up to 4 minutes for pretest discussion. The study broadly supports the recent government proposal for universal testing. However, at 50% uptake, the target set for 2000, universal testing could be less effective and more costly than a well run selective strategy.

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Relevant Article

Cost effectiveness analysis of antenatal HIV screening in United Kingdom

A E Ades, M J Sculpher, D M Gibb, R Gupta, and J Ratcliffe
BMJ 1999 319: 1230-1234. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]