Marseille 2007
| Abstract #257 - SOCIO-ECONOMIC INEQUALITIES AND HIV/AIDS EPIDEMIC: EVIDENCE FROM SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA | ||||
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Session: 50.2: Transmission and social epidemiology (Parallel) on Wednesday @ 08.30-10.30 in PR Chaired by Brenda Spencer, Helene Sylvain Authors: Presenting Author: Ms CHRYSTELLE TSAFACK TEMAH - Universit d'Auvergne, France |
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| Aim: Background: Throughout African continent, HIV/AIDS epidemic has became a major cause of death and poverty. The relation between HIV/AIDS epidemic and poverty appears somehow paradoxical. Indeed at the international level, the most affected regions are the poorest, among Sub-Saharan African countries however, the most affected are also the richest. Nevertheless, the fact that these countries are also those with the least egalitarian income distributions leads to wonder whether there is a specific impact of income inequality on the course of the epidemic. Moreover, the distribution of the epidemic across both sexes differs according to regions, with Sub-Saharan Africa being the most gender-affected region: more than half of infected people there are women. In this paper, we try to understand why it is so by assessing the importance of income and gender inequalities as determinants of the evolution of HIV/AIDS pandemic in Sub-Saharan Africa. | ||||
| Method / Issue: Method: Using a panel data of 42 African countries from the 1997-2003 period, we examine the link between income and gender inequalities on the one hand and HIV/AIDS epidemic on the other hand by introducing these variables among the traditional determinants of the epidemic. We used data from 42 sub-Saharan countries from 1997 to 2003. We used Gini coefficients for income inequality and women participation rates in economic activity and female literacy rates for gender inequality. We first regress our equation with the random effects model. We then regress the same equation with the generalized method of moments to accounts for dynamic effects in our model. We also include an aea dummy in order to capture sub-regional differences in the way income inequality affects HIV/AIDS epidemic in Africa. | ||||
| Results / Comments: Results: Our results suggest that there is indeed a link between income inequality and HIV/AIDS epidemic. Moreover, the correlation remains even after we control for poverty. This link is more salient for austral and eastern Africa countries. Furthermore, womens education and economic independence appears to be critical determinants of the pandemic. Among other strong predictors of HIV/AIDS epidemic, we can cite poverty, malnutrition, access to information, male circumcision and ethnic fragmentation. These results are robust to alternative specifications of our dependant variables and our coefficients are stable, as showed when we subdivide our period of study. | ||||
| Discussion: Conclusion: To date, developing countries are still excluded from the debate on the link between income inequality and health. Yet, given the tragic consequences of HIV/AIDS epidemic on health and economic outcomes in Sub-Saharan Africa countries, specific attention should be paid to any of its determinants. Thus, instead of focussing only on poverty reduction, the strategies should also be directed towards narrowing the income gap between rich and poor. Moreover, funds should be allocated towards the most effective ways to reduce the curve of the pandemic, namely in empowering women by educating them and helping them to acquire a form of economic independence, activities that have also proved to have a leading effect on the other determinants of HIV/AIDS. | ||||
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