Methodological Issues in the Study of the Socioeconomic Consequences of HIV/AIDS

Rigorous empirical research on the socioeconomic effects of AIDS is important for developing appropriate strategies to mitigate impacts and ultimately improve living standards. This paper provides a broad overview of the challenges in studying the impact of the epidemic on individuals, households an...

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Main Authors:	Beegle, K., De Weerdt, J.
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	EN
Published:	2012
Subjects:	Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome Africa Cost of Illness Data Interpretation Developing Countries Epidemiologic Methods HIV Infections Humans Poverty Research Design Socioeconomic Factors
Online Access:	http://hdl.handle.net/10986/5059

id	okr-10986-5059
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	okr-10986-50592021-04-23T14:02:20Z Methodological Issues in the Study of the Socioeconomic Consequences of HIV/AIDS Beegle, K. De Weerdt, J. Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome Africa Cost of Illness Data Interpretation Developing Countries Epidemiologic Methods HIV Infections Humans Poverty Research Design Socioeconomic Factors Rigorous empirical research on the socioeconomic effects of AIDS is important for developing appropriate strategies to mitigate impacts and ultimately improve living standards. This paper provides a broad overview of the challenges in studying the impact of the epidemic on individuals, households and economies, drawing examples from existing studies. We start with a discussion of macro-economic studies and argue that they reach vastly different conclusions about the impact of AIDS, depending on what parameter assumptions they make. Whereas microstudies could provide insights into some of these parameters and effects, there are many technical hurdles to overcome. We discuss the use of comparator groups, spillover effects, longitudinal datasets and the time horizons of studies. Under scrutiny of these technical requirements, the existing empirical evidence of the impoverishing effects of AIDS deaths on African households seems unexpectedly limited. After many years of study, large gaps remain in the empirical literature with regard to our understanding of the magnitude and heterogeneity of these impacts. We conclude that the literature thus far has not convincingly shown that AIDS is the main contributor to low levels and high inequities of socioeconomic outcomes in Africa. Demand for research on the causal impact of HIV/AIDS on poverty is only increasing with the scaling up of antiretroviral treatment. 2012-03-30T07:31:04Z 2012-03-30T07:31:04Z 2008 Journal Article AIDS 1473-5571 (Electronic) 0269-9370 (Linking) http://hdl.handle.net/10986/5059 EN http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo World Bank Journal Article
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	Digital Repositories
building	World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection	World Bank
language	EN
topic	Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome Africa Cost of Illness Data Interpretation Developing Countries Epidemiologic Methods HIV Infections Humans Poverty Research Design Socioeconomic Factors
spellingShingle	Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome Africa Cost of Illness Data Interpretation Developing Countries Epidemiologic Methods HIV Infections Humans Poverty Research Design Socioeconomic Factors Beegle, K. De Weerdt, J. Methodological Issues in the Study of the Socioeconomic Consequences of HIV/AIDS
relation	http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo
description	Rigorous empirical research on the socioeconomic effects of AIDS is important for developing appropriate strategies to mitigate impacts and ultimately improve living standards. This paper provides a broad overview of the challenges in studying the impact of the epidemic on individuals, households and economies, drawing examples from existing studies. We start with a discussion of macro-economic studies and argue that they reach vastly different conclusions about the impact of AIDS, depending on what parameter assumptions they make. Whereas microstudies could provide insights into some of these parameters and effects, there are many technical hurdles to overcome. We discuss the use of comparator groups, spillover effects, longitudinal datasets and the time horizons of studies. Under scrutiny of these technical requirements, the existing empirical evidence of the impoverishing effects of AIDS deaths on African households seems unexpectedly limited. After many years of study, large gaps remain in the empirical literature with regard to our understanding of the magnitude and heterogeneity of these impacts. We conclude that the literature thus far has not convincingly shown that AIDS is the main contributor to low levels and high inequities of socioeconomic outcomes in Africa. Demand for research on the causal impact of HIV/AIDS on poverty is only increasing with the scaling up of antiretroviral treatment.
format	Journal Article
author	Beegle, K. De Weerdt, J.
author_facet	Beegle, K. De Weerdt, J.
author_sort	Beegle, K.
title	Methodological Issues in the Study of the Socioeconomic Consequences of HIV/AIDS
title_short	Methodological Issues in the Study of the Socioeconomic Consequences of HIV/AIDS
title_full	Methodological Issues in the Study of the Socioeconomic Consequences of HIV/AIDS
title_fullStr	Methodological Issues in the Study of the Socioeconomic Consequences of HIV/AIDS
title_full_unstemmed	Methodological Issues in the Study of the Socioeconomic Consequences of HIV/AIDS
title_sort	methodological issues in the study of the socioeconomic consequences of hiv/aids
publishDate	2012
url	http://hdl.handle.net/10986/5059
_version_	1764393780156301312

Methodological Issues in the Study of the Socioeconomic Consequences of HIV/AIDS

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