%0 Journal Article
%T Multi-criteria decision analysis for setting priorities on HIV/AIDS interventions in Thailand
%A Sitaporn Youngkong
%A Yot Teerawattananon
%A Sripen Tantivess
%A Rob Baltussen
%J Health Research Policy and Systems
%D 2012
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1478-4505-10-6
%X We used MCDA to rank 40 HIV/AIDS interventions on the basis of the priority setting criteria put forward by three groups of stakeholders including policy makers, people living with HIV/AIDs (PLWHA), and village health volunteers (VHVs). MCDA incorporated an explicit component of deliberation to let stakeholders reflect on the rank ordering, and adapt where necessary.Upon deliberation, policy makers expressed a preference for programs that target high risk groups such as men who have sex with men, injecting drug users, and female sex workers. The VHVs preferred interventions that target the youth or the general population, and gave lower priority to programs that target high risk groups. PLWHA gave all interventions the same priority. The rank order correlation between the priorities as expressed before and after deliberation was 37% among the policy makers and 46% among the VHVs.This study documented the feasibility of MCDA to prioritize HIV/AIDS interventions in Thailand, and has shown the usefulness of a deliberative process as an integrated component of MCDA. MCDA holds potential to contribute to a more transparent and accountable priority setting process, and further application of this approach in the prioritisation of health interventions is warranted.Since HIV/AIDS has long been recognized as a leading cause of death and a high burden of disease in Thailand [1-3], a wide range of preventive, treatment, and care programs have been implemented to combat the disease. Recently, it was suggested that funding decisions on these programs are not taken in a systematic manner and that the resulting mix of interventions is not offering the best value for money [4]. Consequently, Thai policy makers now face the challenge of how the scarce resources available for HIV/AIDS control can be spent more wisely.A range of studies are available to guide Thai policy makers to prioritise HIV/AIDS interventions. International estimates are available on the effectiveness and cost-ef
%K Multi-criteria decision analysis
%K Priority setting
%K HIV/AIDS interventions
%K Discrete choice experiment
%U http://www.health-policy-systems.com/content/10/1/6