Fertility Responses to Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV

Nicholas Wilson

No 2011-08, Center for Development Economics from Department of Economics, Williams College

Abstract: Prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) interventions reduce the cumulative probability of transmission from a HIV positive woman to her child by as much as 40 percentage points. This paper is the first economic analysis of the behavioral effects of PMTCT. I examine fertility responses to the scale-up of PMTCT in Zambia, a country where approximately 15 percent of adults age 15-49 are HIV positive. My results suggest that the local introduction of PMTCT reduced pregnancy rates by up to 20 percent, that the fertility response was greater among women who were more likely to be HIV positive, and that PMTCT substantially increased breastfeeding rates.

Keywords: Fertility; HIV/AIDS; PMTCT; reproductive technology; Zambia (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I10 J13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 36 pages
Date: 2011-05, Revised 2011-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-afr and nep-hea
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Working Paper: Fertility Responses to Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV (2011)
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