Effect of HIV/AIDS on Economic Growth in Sub-Saharan Africa: Recent Evidence

Edward Nketiah-Amponsah (), Mohammed Abubakari and Priscilla Baffour
Additional contact information
Mohammed Abubakari: Groupe Nduom

International Advances in Economic Research, 2019, vol. 25, issue 4, No 8, 469-480

Abstract: Abstract This paper examines the effect of human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) on economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) using data from 46 SSA countries spanning the period 2000–2015. Results based on the system-generalized method of moments estimation showed that a 1% increase in the HIV/AIDS prevalence rate in SSA decreased the growth in per capita income by 0.47%. The impact of HIV/AIDS on economic growth was felt most in Eastern Africa followed by West Africa, although the prevalence rate was highest in Southern Africa. In particular, a 1% increase in the prevalence rate of HIV/AIDS in Eastern Africa and West Africa retarded growth in per capita income by 0.64% and 0.47%, respectively, over the study period. The paper suggests that for SSA to minimize the impact of HIV/AIDS prevalence on growth, African governments should take a cue from the southern African countries by making anti-retroviral drugs more accessible and affordable to persons living with the disease.

Keywords: Economic growth; HIV/AIDS prevalence; Sub-Saharan Africa; Generalized method of moments (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I10 I12 O47 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11294-019-09754-3 Abstract (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:kap:iaecre:v:25:y:2019:i:4:d:10.1007_s11294-019-09754-3

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/economics/journal/11294

DOI: 10.1007/s11294-019-09754-3

Access Statistics for this article

International Advances in Economic Research is currently edited by Katherine S. Virgo

More articles in International Advances in Economic Research from Springer, International Atlantic Economic Society Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().