Planning health care for people with HIV infection and AIDS.

In recent years planners of health services have been urged to design a comprehensive range of services which are responsive to the needs of people with HIV infection and AIDS and those who might be worried about HIV transmission. Models of care have been tried and tested and pilot services which aim to inform the development of the services scrutinised. Though in general this community care is seen as the preferred option with adequate backup support from acute services. More than anything, there is a recognition that the service must be responsive to local needs. Because patterns of HIV infection and prevalence of AIDS are so variable there is no substitute for the systematic development of timely local knowledge as the basis of local planning.