Household economic status and risk of HIV/ AIDS infection among young people: Evidence from Ghana

Abstract

Recent evidence suggests that the burden of new HIV infection in developing countries is concentrated among young people even with the increasing knowledge of how to protect oneself from infection. Many scholars have explained this under the economic thesis that the daily situations of economic and social disadvantage that characterize the lives of many young people push them to indulge in risky sexual behaviours that increase their risk of contracting HIV. This study empirically tests the veracity of this economic thesis among young people in Ghana. Extracting data on young men and women aged 15-24 years from the 2003 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey data, a national household survey; the study explores the association between economic status and three risky sexual behaviours - age at sexual debut, multiple sexual partnership and inconsistent use of condom. Interestingly, the long held poverty hypothesis is not confirmed in this study. However, variables such as knowledge of one's HIV/AIDS status, frequency of watching television, years of schooling and staying away from home for more than a month are found to be significantly associated with risky sexual behaviours among young people in Ghana.