Cost-effectiveness of methadone maintenance treatment for HIV-positive drug users in Vietnam

Methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) is efficacious in reducing drug use that may improve HIV/AIDS care and treatment outcomes. This study evaluated the incremental cost-effectiveness of MMT for HIV-positive drug users from the perspective of health service providers. A sample of 370 HIV-positive drug users (age: mean ± SD: 29.5 ± 5.9 years; 95.7% male) taking MMT in multi-sites was assessed at baseline, three, six and nine months. Costs of MMT services were analyzed and converted to the year 2009. Quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) were modeled from changes in health-related quality of life of patients using the modified World Health Organization Quality of Life - Brief Version (WHOQOL-BREF). Inverse probability-of-treatment weights, constructed using propensity score of non-responses, were applied to adjust for potential confounding. Over nine months, MMT substantially improved QALYs of HIV/AIDS patients (0.076 QALY [0.066-0.084]). The increments in QALY were large and stabilized in those patients taking antiretroviral treatment and abstinent to drug use. For one QALY gained, the MMT program would cost US$3745.3, approximately 3.2 times Vietnam GDP per capita in 2009. The cost-effectiveness of MMT intervention was robust against HIV advanced status or co-morbidity, e.g., TB treatment, but it might not be cost-effective for those patients who continued to use drug. Findings of this study indicate that providing MMT for HIV-positive drug users is a cost-effective intervention in Vietnam. Integrating MMT to HIV/AIDS care and treatment services would be beneficial in injection-driven HIV epidemics.