Roads and the Spread of AIDS in Africa

Elodie Djemai

No DT/2017/16, Working Papers from DIAL (Développement, Institutions et Mondialisation)

Abstract: We use GIS and HIV data from ve African countries to estimate the effect of road proximity on HIV infection. We find a negative effect of the distance to the nearest paved road on the probability of being infected with HIV: a one standard-deviation rise in the distance (approximately 2.3 kilometers) reduces the probability of infection by 0.34-2.3 percentage points. Using slope as an instrument for road distance continues to produce a negative and significant estimated coefficient. Alternative instrumental variables include historical routes and hypothetical lines connecting major cities as of 1890-1900. However this relationship may also re ect selection and reverse causality in individual choice of location, and we extensively discuss the role of migration. While the number of lifetime sexual partners is significantly infl uenced by the presence of roads, in recent years the effect of road distance in access to protection has disappeared.

Keywords: HIV/AIDS epidemic; infrastructure; geography; risk-taking; Sub-Saharan Africa (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C21 I10 O12 O18 R23 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 58 pages
Date: 2017-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dev, nep-geo, nep-hea, nep-tre and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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