Background: Bridging the efficacy-effectiveness gap in HIV prevention and treatment requires policies that account for human behavior.
Setting: Worldwide.
Methods: We conducted a narrative review of the literature on HIV in the field of economics, identified common themes within the literature, and identified lessons for implementation science.
Results: The reviewed studies illustrate how behaviors are shaped by perceived costs and benefits across a wide range of health and non-health domains, how structural constraints shape decision-making, how information interventions can still be effective in the epidemic’s fourth decade, and how lessons from behavioral economics can be used to improve intervention effectiveness.
Conclusion: Economics provides theoretical insights and empirical methods that can guide HIV implementation science.
