AEGiS-06IAC: Determinants of the public's priorities for allocating funds spent on AIDS.

6th International AIDS Conference


San Francisco, California, USA — June 20-23, 1990

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Determinants of the public's priorities for allocating funds spent on AIDS.

Int Conf AIDS 1990 Jun 20-23; 6:351 (abstract no. Th.D.901)
Berry SH, Kanouse DE, Gorman EM, Yano E; The RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, California, USA

OBJECTIVE: Assess priorities among the general population for public spending on the AIDS epidemic and analyze the determinants of these priorities.

METHODS: Analyze results of a telephone survey of 1292 randomly selected adults (with an over representation of blacks and Hispanics), residing in Los Angeles County. The survey was conducted in October-December, 1989.

RESULTS: Preliminary analysis indicates that, overall, the desired allocation for public funds is 42% for research, 27% for treatment, and 29% for education and prevention, a distribution that differs considerably from actual spending, where treatment dominates by a wide margin. Respondents believed the education and prevention programs aimed at women of childbearing age were most effective (47% rated them as very effective), compared with programs aimed at teenagers (38%) and gay and bisexual men (37%). Programs aimed at prostitutes (28%) and IVDUs (27%) were rated as least likely to be effective for controlling the spread of HIV infection. Multivariate analyses relate these priorities to demographic and other characteristics such as knowledge and concern about AIDS as a health problem and assessment of personal and public risk. For example, it appears that education is negatively related to belief in the effectiveness of prevention programs.

CONCLUSION: Public perceptions about appropriate spending priorities for the AIDS epidemic are not consistent with actual present and likely future spending distributions. However, the stated priorities reflect a belief structure that may affect support for spending programs and is worthy of consideration by public officials and others concerned with program planning and resource allocation.

Keywords: AEGIS, Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, HIV Infections, Sjogren's Syndrome, Substance Abuse, Intravenous, Public Opinion, Hispanic Americans, Blacks, Sezary Syndrome, Disease Outbreaks, Culture, Los Angeles, Human, Female, Male, Adult, Adolescence, ICA6

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ThD901

Copyright © 1990 - International AIDS Society (IAS). Reproduction of this abstract (other than one copy for personal reference) must be cleared through the IAS.