ABSTRACT
This chapter explains how economists use economic principles to enrich understanding of epidemics. Analysts describe the magnitude of disease in society in a multitude of ways. Economic epidemiology provides new theoretical ideas, speculative applications, and studies spurred on by a new urgency caused by the AIDS epidemic in progress across the world. Sexual practices that were common and acceptable in the culture became deadly with the introduction of the AIDS virus. Even in sexually transmitted diseases (STD), partners may not recognize the risks that they face, either fully or at all. Africa provides a sobering case study on the effects of the AIDS epidemic. A two-pronged attack on the problem can bring substantial success. Before 2001 drug treatments for HIV/AIDS were effective although extremely costly, with the annual cost of a three-drug combination antiretroviral (ART) regimen for a patient in a poor country approximately $10,000 to $25,000.
