How do Roads Spread AIDS in Africa? A Critique of the Received Policy Wisdom

Elodie Djemai

No 09-120, TSE Working Papers from Toulouse School of Economics (TSE)

Abstract: This paper empirically analyzes the influence of road proximity on HIV-infection using geographical data on road infrastructure and the Demographic and Health Surveys collected in six African countries. Firstly we show that living in proximity to a major road increases the individual risk of infection. This observed relationship is found to be sensitive to the use of the road and to be robust after correcting for potential selection bias related to the non random placement of people. Secondly, our findings reveal that road infrastructure improves the level of HIV/AIDS-knowledge and facilitates access to condoms, providing no support to the hypothesis that HIV-infection is purely due to ignorance and misfortune. Thirdly, we find that the increased risk of infection is driven by a higher likelihood of engaging in casual sexual partnerships that more than offsets the effect of the increased use of condoms.

Keywords: HIV/AIDS epidemic; spatial inequalities; risk taking (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I10 O12 O18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-afr, nep-hea and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:tse:wpaper:22243

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