A.N. Masizana-Katongo and T. Taukobong (Botswana)
HIV AND AIDS, Anti-Retroviral Therapy, Group decision making, Analytic Hierarchy Process
The main objective of this paper is to extend the idea of a previously submitted paper which attempted to explore the applicability of a formal decision procedure to the process of providing tailored, ARV Treatment (Anti Retroviral Therapy). The case study is based on Botswana, one of the leading countries hard hit by the HIV and AIDS pandemic where the government is working hard to facilitate the provision of ARV to the infected. The process involves issues such socio economic, biomedical, and human rights. Doctors are faced with the challenge of trying to restore full function of patients’ immune systems while avoiding or minimizing drug resistance, side effects, treatment failure and evolution of new viral streams. Selecting the best therapy from available alternatives where there are many criteria to use for each patient is complex. Due to the large number of patients in Botswana, the task is deemed enormous and requires formalized decision methods to support the doctors. The main objective of the paper is to increase confidence levels in provision of the right combination of drugs for each patient by involving more than one doctor’s opinion. We propose to present a formal group decision technique that can synthesize judgements from different doctors in making a recommendation for the correct therapy.
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