Socio-Economic Impact Of Hiv/Aids At Individual And Household Level In China

Currently, even though the overall prevalence of HIV/AIDS epidemic is low in China, the prevalence rate is fairly high in certain areas. Hence, the macroeconomic impact is likely to be not significant; however, the impact at the household and individual level is likely to be very large. The Chinese government has already realized the impact and harm of HIV/AIDS, given high priority to HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment, and works out a lot of measures to reduce the impact of HIV/AIDS. However, in the background of new characteristics of epidemic and policy environment, there is not enough data and evidence which quantify the socio-economic impact of HIV/AIDS. Hence, it is significant to analyze the socio-economic impact of HIV/AIDS at individual and household levels in the new background.Based on the relevant data which was selected in three HIV high prevalence provinces of China from February 2008 to April 2008, used the quantitative analysis and qualitative analysis together, the thesis has compared and analyzed the differences between HIV households and non-HIV households in the aspects of marriage, household structure, income, consumption, etc. The results showed that the impact of HIV/AIDS on PLHIV and their families could be found in the following aspects: HIV/AIDS could destroy the marriage of infectors. The household structure has been changed and the household function has been weakened. HIV/AIDS could impact the household economy a lot, such as the drop of work capacity of PLHIV, the loss of work chances, and the reduction of the personal income. There are a higher percentage of HIV households belong to low income category due to HIV/AIDS. The household consumption structure may be forced to change due to the loss of income and the depravation of health condition of PLHIV. The expenditure of HIV household is mostly focused on the need of basic daily life, the HIV households have to spend more on medical expenditure, while spend less on education and durables. For dealing with the economic burden caused by HIV/AIDS, the HIV households mainly take the coping mechanisms of "borrowings", and other family members have to do more productive work, especially the children and elderly persons in HIV households have to assume more, as a result, some children lost the education chance, and the impact on education of children in poor families is more serious. There is still stigma and discrimination for PLHIV. For those PLHIV who disclosed their status and their family members, they have suffered stigma and discrimination in the community, health facilities and schools. Furthermore, HIV/AIDS could impact the quality of life of PLHIV seriously. In particular, HIV/AIDS would not only impact the PLHIV and their families severely, but also would cause some potential social and economic problems, such as increase the gap between rich and poor, make the gender inequality more serious, reduce the education chances of children in poor families and increase the burden of public health. It is need to take a lot of efficient policies and measures to reduce the socio-economic impacts of HIV/AIDS.