AMBIT: Alternative Models of ART Delivery – Optimizing the Benefits

AMBIT is a 2.5-year research and evaluation project in sub-Saharan Africa supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and implemented by the Boston University School of Public Health in the U.S., the Health Economics and Epidemiology Research Office (HE²RO) in South Africa, and other local partners. The project, launched in September 2018, will include data synthesis, data collection, data analysis, and modeling activities aimed at generating information for near- and long-term decision making and creating an approach and platform for ongoing evaluation. Activities will include literature reviews, analysis of retrospective data and implementation reports, cost estimates, surveys, modeling, and modest primary data collection and analysis, with an anticipated emphasis on Malawi, Zambia, and South Africa.

AMBIT’s five main components address COVERAGE (current extent of alternative model implementation); ALLOCATION (development of a mathematical model to optimize distribution of alternative models at national level, as pictured below); BENEFITS AND COSTS (empirical estimates of the overall potential costs and benefits of large-scale adoption of alternative models in the focus countries); GAPS (limited primary research in the focus countries to strengthen the evidence base); and PARTNERSHIPS AND DISSEMINATION (integration of AMBIT with other related projects, establishment of partnerships, and widespread dissemination of results).