The AIDS Epidemic, Antiretroviral Therapy and Subjective Mortality Risk

Victoria Baranov, University of Chicago
Daniel Bennett, University of Chicago

In response to severe AIDS mortality in Sub-Saharan Africa, international donors have collaborated with many national governments to provide free antiretroviral therapy (ART) in endemic areas. This paper examines the effect of ART availability on subjective mortality risk, mental health and agricultural productivity among both HIV-negative and HIV-positive respondents in Malawi. A difference-in-difference strategy compares the changes in these outcomes across people who are near and far from ART facilities. ART availability leads to substantially lower subjective mortality risk and improved mental health. It is associated with more time allocated to maize cultivation and greater maize output. These results, which extend to the HIV-negative subpopulation, show that ART has broad social benefits.