Policy Briefs on THE

ECONOMIC IMPACT OF HIV

Impact of HIV

Brief 8: Interactions Between HIV and Poverty

By Markus Haacker, Gesine Meyer-Rath

June 2021

Key Points

  • Poverty can increase vulnerability to HIV, but so does social opportunity. Overall, the picture on socio-economic correlates of HIV is not consistent across countries.

  • HIV contributes to poverty through income loss and the increased costs of accessing care. But some employment losses among people affected by HIV result in employment gains by other individuals, so the macroeconomic impact is smaller than the direct effects on households affected by HIV.

  • Poverty appears to act as a barrier to treatment access. Treatment adherence tends to be higher for patients with higher socio-economic status.

Summary Briefs

The summary briefs provide an overview of three main areas of economic impact.

Master Slide Set

Policy Briefs

The policy briefs provide more detail on the evidence available on each of the topics.

1. The State of Programme Implementation to Reduce HIV Transmission & Aids-Related Mortality

2. Increased Health and Life Prospects and Their Economic Valuation

3. HIV, Population Dynamics and the Labour Force

4. Human Capital

5. Capital and Investment

6. Productivity and Employment of People Living with HIV

7. Economic Growth – Overview

8. Interactions Between HIV and Poverty

9. Disease Burden Across Population Sub-Groups

10. Trade-offs between Allocation to Health and Other Sectors

11. Domestic Public Funding for HIV

12. Trade-offs and Synergies between HIV and Other Health Objectives

13. Assessing Cost Effectiveness Across HIV and Health Interventions

14. External and Domestic Health Financing, and the Role of Public vs. Private Domestic Health Funding

15. Public and Private Provision of Health and HIV Services

16. Trade-offs within the HIV Budget

17. The Economics of HIV and of HIV Programmes in the Era of Covid-19

Brief 8: Interactions Between HIV and Poverty

By Markus Haacker, Gesine Meyer-Rath

June 2021

Key Points

  • Poverty can increase vulnerability to HIV, but so does social opportunity. Overall, the picture on socio-economic correlates of HIV is not consistent across countries.

  • HIV contributes to poverty through income loss and the increased costs of accessing care. But some employment losses among people affected by HIV result in employment gains by other individuals, so the macroeconomic impact is smaller than the direct effects on households affected by HIV.

  • Poverty appears to act as a barrier to treatment access. Treatment adherence tends to be higher for patients with higher socio-economic status.

Technical Briefs

The technical briefs provide more detail on the evidence available on each of the topics.

1. The State of Programme Implementation to Reduce HIV Transmission & Aids-Related Mortality

2. Increased Health and Life Prospects and Their Economic Valuation

3. HIV, Population Dynamics and the Labour Force

4. Human Capital

5. Capital and Investment

6. Productivity and Employment of People Living with HIV

7. Economic Growth – Overview

8. Interactions Between HIV and Poverty

9. Disease Burden Across Population Sub-Groups

10. Trade-offs between Allocation to Health and Other Sectors

11. Domestic Public Funding for HIV

12. Trade-offs and Synergies between HIV and Other Health Objectives

13. Assessing Cost Effectiveness Across HIV and Health Interventions

14. External and Domestic Health Financing, and the Role of Public vs. Private Domestic Health Funding

15. Public and Private Provision of Health and HIV Services

16. Trade-offs within the HIV Budget

17. The Economics of HIV and of HIV Programmes in the Era of Covid-19

Wits Health Consortium, University of the Witwatersrand