Young Women's Marital Status and HIV Risk in Sub-Saharan Africa: Evidence from Lesotho, Swaziland and Zimbabwe

Christobel Asiedu (), Elizabeth Asiedu and Francis Owusu ()
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Christobel Asiedu: Louisiana Tech University

Journal of African Development, 2010, vol. 12, issue 2, 33-46

Abstract: This paper examines whether marriage increases the risk of HIV infection among women aged 15-24 in Lesotho, Swaziland and Zimbabwe. We find that in all the three countries, the risk of infection is significantly lower for never-married young women than ever-married young women; however, the difference in risk disappears when we control for age, educational attainment, household wealth, and area of residence. Thus, our result highlights the importance of socio-economic and demographic factors in analyzing the link between marital status and HIV risk among young women. Particularly, our findings show that age and education play a crucial role in determining the level of HIV/AIDS risk for young women. The result also implies that marriage as an institution does not necessarily elevate the risk of HIV infection among young women.

Keywords: women; girls; young women; marital status; marriage; HIV; AIDS; Lesotho; Swaziland; Zimbabwe (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:afe:journl:v:12:y:2010:i:2:p:33-46

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