The Economic Impact of HIV/AIDS in South India

[Guest guest]

Duraisamy Palanigounder, Chennai, India,

" The Economic Impact of HIV/AIDS on Patients and Households in South India "

Paper presented at IAEN Annual Conference 2003: " Current Issues in

the Economics of HIV/AIDS "

Conclusion and policy recommendations

The medical care of PLWHA places a large financial burden on

households with the lowest income categories experiencing the highest

burden. The cost of medical treatment declined over the study period.

HIV/AIDS leads to depletion of savings and productive assets, and

increased household indebtedness.

Affordable treatment targeted to low incoke and below poverty line

households. More programs at more sites to reduce non- medical

expences on travel. Viable health insurance scheme. Enhancing the

role of NGOs. Strengthening safety-nets like pensions and employment

support programs.

The webcast presentation and the copy of the paper is available at

the following url.

http://www.iaen.org/papers/f2f2003/

The International AIDS Economics Network, together with the Kaiser

Family Foundation, The Futures Group International, UNAIDS, USAID,

The World Bank, and Forum One Communications, held its 2003 Annual

Conference in Washington, DC, April 24-25, 2003. This Conference

brought IAEN professionals together in person to participate in

panels, discussions, and presentations, all specific to the most

recent developments in the field of AIDS and Economics. All of the

sessions are webcast and presented on the Kaisernetwork.org Web site.

Ps/ Copy of the powerpoint slides of the presentation is available

with the moderator