Multi-level resource allocation for HIV prevention: A model for developing countries

Funds spent on HIV prevention commonly traverse several levels of distribution. For example, funds may be allocated to regions, and regional authorities may then allocate their funds to sub-regions or targeted risk groups. Decision makers at each level often make use of heuristics that may result in suboptimal allocation of resources. We examine the impact of equity-based heuristic allocation of HIV prevention funds versus optimal allocation of HIV prevention funds when there are two levels of decision making. Our results demonstrate that if optimization can only be applied to one level of the decision making process, there are more significant gains if it is applied at the lower level than at the upper level.