I noticed that much of the political tractability discussion has focussed on counterfactuals involving other diseases (e.g. malaria) but I’m more confused why the government prioritised treatment over prevention.
Oster’s article argued that prevention would be a better bet than treatment and that was written in 2005 when Congress had approved the budget and the prices of the drugs had come down. You also highlight the importance of, “the evidence from those who had worked in the field that antiretroviral drugs and preventive measures could be deployed effectively and at reasonable cost, even in very poor settings”. (emphasis added)
So both options had evidence of feasibility and efficacy, the money was already there, and it seems like, at that time, they didn’t know which option would scale better or get cheaper quicker.
I’m struggling to see what Oster got wrong. Was the decision to prioritise treatment over prevention mostly driven by the emotional appeal of the ‘Lazarus effect’?
I noticed that much of the political tractability discussion has focussed on counterfactuals involving other diseases (e.g. malaria) but I’m more confused why the government prioritised treatment over prevention.
Oster’s article argued that prevention would be a better bet than treatment and that was written in 2005 when Congress had approved the budget and the prices of the drugs had come down. You also highlight the importance of, “the evidence from those who had worked in the field that antiretroviral drugs and preventive measures could be deployed effectively and at reasonable cost, even in very poor settings”. (emphasis added)
So both options had evidence of feasibility and efficacy, the money was already there, and it seems like, at that time, they didn’t know which option would scale better or get cheaper quicker.
I’m struggling to see what Oster got wrong. Was the decision to prioritise treatment over prevention mostly driven by the emotional appeal of the ‘Lazarus effect’?