Socio-Economic Impact of HIV and AIDS in Tamil nadu

In the HIV
households, both
the rate of illness
and the number
of hospitalisation
cases was much
less for women
than for men
was 100 percent for all children from
both households, the current enrolment
rates were less for both HIV and non-HIV
households. The rates for children from
HIV households were the lesser of two.
While no gender difference was seen in
the current enrolment rates of children
from non-HIV households; the rate was
lesser for girls than boys in case of HIV
households.
Of the 15 HIV-positive children in the age
group of 6-14 years, 14 were enrolled in
school. One boy however, could not get
admission because of his HIV status. One
boy and two girls dropped out; the boy to
look after his sick parents and the girls, as
there was no separate school for girls.
Impact on health status and
household expenditure
From the sample of 410 HIV and 1,203
non-HIV households, the total number
of persons in the two households worked
out to 1,520 and 4,937 respectively. The
prevalence rate of non-hospitalised
illness was calculated based on the
number of illnesses reported for all the
members of the households. This was
during one month before the interview,
and included acute and chronic illnesses.
The calculation was also based on the
number of hospitalisation cases reported
during the one year preceding the date of
interview. The burden of illness, whether
hospitalised or non-hospitalised, was
found to be much higher in the HIV
households. On comparision with
reference to age groups, in the age group
of 15-59, which contains most of the HIV
sample, the burden on HIV households
was nearly four times that on non-HIV
households in respect of both nonhospitalised
and hospitalised illnesses.
In the HIV households, both the rate of
illness and the number of hospitalisation
cases was much less for women than for
men. The prevalence rate of both nonhospitalised
and hospitalised illnesses
calculated stage-wise showed them as
increasing with the increase in the stage
of infection.
The survey gathered details about various
non-hospitalised illnesses suffered by
the interviewed PLWHA during the
month prior to the date of interview.
These details included the nature of
illnesses suffered, duration of each illness
episode, number of days treatment was
taken, type of treatment taken and the
expenditure incurred on the treatment
of each illness episode. Fever was the
most highly reported illness (33%),
followed by respiratory infections, loose
motion, diarrhoea, TB, skin diseases,
headache, body ache and weakness.
While six percent of the illness episodes
went untreated in the case of men, the
percentage was higher at 10.6 percent
for women. Also, in the case of men,
while 90 percent of untreated episodes
were not considered serious, financial
constraint did not seem a reason for not
taking treatment. However, in the case
of women, while 74 percent of untreated
episodes were not considered serious, 13
percent went untreated due to financial
constraints.
Treatment was taken from private health
facilities in nearly 54 percent of the nonhospitalised
illness episodes. In 35 percent
of the episodes; government facilities
were responsible for the treatment and
in about 10 percent of the episodes,
treatment was taken from NGOs. A higher
percentage of women took treatment
from government hospitals and NGOs
as compared to men. While the average
expenditure per episode was the least in
case of treatment from NGOs (Rs. 30 per
episode), it was the highest for treatment
from private doctors/clinics (Rs. 556 per
episode).
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Socio-Economic Impact of HIV and AIDS in Tamil Nadu, India