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MEASURING THE MULTI-DIMENSIONAL KNOWLEDGE DEPRIVATION OF HIV/AIDS: A NEW APPROACH WITH INDIAN EVIDENCE ON ITS MAGNITUDE AND DETERMINANTS

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 July 2011

RANJAN RAY  and
KOMPAL SINHA
RANJAN RAY
Affiliation:
Department of Economics, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia
KOMPAL SINHA
Affiliation:
Department of Economics, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia Department of Econometrics and Business Statistics, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia
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Summary

Though HIV/AIDS poses serious risks to economic security, there is very little economics literature quantifying awareness and knowledge of this disease and their principal socioeconomic determinants. This is what the present study attempts to do in the context of India, which faces a significant threat from HIV/AIDS. The study is based on India's National Family Health Surveys covering the period of economic reforms and beyond. The contribution is both methodological and empirical. The study shows that the recent multi-dimensional deprivation approach to poverty can also be used to measure and analyse awareness and lack of knowledge of HIV/AIDS. The use of decomposable multi-dimensional measures helps in identifying regions, socioeconomic groups and aspects of HIV knowledge that should be targeted in policy interventions. The study identifies the importance of safe sex practices as an area that needs to be targeted in future information campaigns. The study also explores the impact of increased female autonomy in health and economic decision-making on their and their partners' knowledge of the disease, along with a host of other economic and demographic determinants.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Biosocial Science , Volume 43 , Issue 6 , November 2011 , pp. 657 - 684
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

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