Socio-Economic Impact of HIV and AIDS in Tamil nadu

In o rd e r t o s e l e c t t h e n o n - H I V
households (control group), a listing of
the households in the locality/village
was undertaken. In the case of rural
areas, if it was a relatively small village,
all the households in the village were
listed. In the case of a large village, a
sampling fraction was used and every
second or third or fourth household was
listed depending upon the size of the
village. A maximum of 150 households
were listed in each selected village.
Similarly, in urban areas, around 100
households were listed in each block.
While selecting the sample non-HIV
households from the listing sheets,
over-sampling was done to compensate
for non-responses. However, in the end
the survey landed up interviewing 1,203
non-HIV households i.e. marginally less
than three times the number of HIV
households interviewed.
In the listing sheets, information about
the socio-economic characteristics
of the households, mainly income of
the household and occupational and
educational status of the head of the
household, was gathered. At the first
step the matching was done on the
basis of the broad income category
of the household, i.e. the frequency
distribution was in terms of the income
groups of the HIV households. At the
second stage, the occupational group of
the head of the household was matched
from within each income category. It was
difficult to take this to the next stage of
matching the level of education of the
head of the household and hence, this
variable was ignored. However, since
income and education are generally
seen to be highly correlated, it was
assumed that this might not create very
serious problems. The respondents from
non-HIV households were adult males
or females in the age group of 20-60
years since questions on knowledge
and awareness about HIV and AIDS
could be answered only by this group.
Accordingly, any household that did not
have a member in this age group was not
selected for the survey.
2.1.4 Household questionnaire
The household survey was conducted
using a structured interview schedule.
Both HIV and non-HIV questionnaires
gathered basic information like socioeconomic
characteristics of all the
household members, household income
and expenditure, prevalence of morbidity,
Table 2.2
District-wise distribution of sample HIV households
Districts
Number of sample HIV
households
Number of sample non-HIV
households
Rural Urban Total Rural Urban Total
1. Chennai 6 95 101 5 299 304
2. Theni 50 22 72 188 41 229
3. Namakkl 55 14 69 155 43 198
4. Tiruhirappalli 28 31 59 75 99 174
5. Erode 55 13 68 149 37 186
6. Tirunelveli 29 12 41 78 34 112
Total no. of households 223 187 410 650 553 1,203
No. of PLWHA
interviewed
261 217 478 - - -
16 Socio-Economic Impact of HIV and AIDS in Tamil Nadu, India