Brief #6: Productivity and Employment of People Living With HIV

Early on, there were concerns that AIDS-related mortality would erode state governance and institutions and thus compromise economic development, but there is little evidence to suggest that such effects have been significant.

HIV – especially at late stages of disease progression –results in reduced productivity and lower employment of people living with HIV, though the economy-wide effects are unclear.

Treatment has been effective in restoring the productivity and – with some delay – employment of
people living with HIV.

Early access to treatment plausibly prevents spells of unemployment, which are an important cause of the
adverse economic consequences of HIV.