Employing resource allocation modeling to inform HIV prevention planning for the state of Iowa.

In fiscal year (FY) 2012, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reallocated their HIV prevention funding to U.S. states, territories, and some cities so as to be more highly correlated with 2008 HIV prevalence. A jurisdiction's HIV prevention funding could drop as low as $750,000 for FY 2016. Iowa was one state that experienced a substantial funding drop, and it chose to undertake a mathematical modeling exercise to inform the following questions: (a) Given current HIV prevention funding for the state, what is the optimal allocation of resources to maximize infections averted? (b) With this "optimal" resource allocation, how many (and what percentage of) HIV infections in the state can be averted? (c) Is the optimal resource allocation sufficient to achieve the National HIV/AIDS Strategy goal of 25% reduction in HIV incidence? and (d) With the "optimal" resource allocation, is the return on the investment such that it might be considered cost-effective? Here, we describe the results of the policy analysis, and the uses of the results.