Nonmedical costs boost HIV bill: Study

Each HIV infection in B.C. costs an estimated $100,000 to $180,000 to
treat, a Vancouver conference on AIDS and HIV was told yesterday.

But the longrange costs of each humanimmunodeficiencyvirus case
could exceed $650,000, according to a survey of 502 HIVpositive Lower
Mainland residents by the Community Health Resource Project.

``What's unique about the study we're doing is we're looking at more
than just medical costs,'' healthcare economist Robin Hanvelt told
delegates to the 10th annual B.C. HIV/AIDS Conference in Vancouver.

``We're trying to estimate private costs as well that are associated
with HIV.''

Hanvelt said the $650,000 estimate includes medical costs, as well as
the cost of lost productivity of the affected person, the person's
family and the community.

Getting hard economic data ``should shift the focus to the importance
of prevention (of transmission),'' said Hanvelt.

Philip Hannan of AIDS Vancouver said the money saved by preventing
just four HIV infections would be sufficient to fund his group's
outreach and education program for a year.

Another presentation at the conference detailed findings from the
Vanguard Project, which is looking at HIVincidence rates and
associated risk factors among gay and bisexual men aged 18 to 30.

``With all the focus recently on injection drug use (and related HIV
infection), let's not forget that the bulk of the infection is still,
in North America, among gay and bisexual men, and that young gay and
bisexual men are particularly at risk,'' said Steve Martindale,
Vanguard Project coordinator.

``What our study draws attention to is the need for support for gay
and lesbian youth,'' he said.

``Counselling services for sexualminority youth may serve a really
invaluable function in preventing HIV infection, even though it's
about providing support for these young people in the hope of
preventing them from putting themselves at risk.''

>From 1987 to 1996, 2,029 of the 2,126 people in B.C. who died of AIDS
and HIV infection were men.

As of December 1995, 11,819 of the 12,552 adult cases of AIDS reported
in Canada were men.

AIDS is now the thirdleading cause of death among Canadian men
between the ages of 20 to 44, after suicide and car crashes.