Socio-Economic Impact of HIV and AIDS in Tamil nadu

That the impact
of the epidemic
is mainly on the
working members
of the household
is seen from the
fact that the work
force participation
rate among
PLWHA is very
high
the household also goes up but the
“dependency ratio” declines. Here, the
term dependency ratio implies the ratio
of total population to the total number
of earners in a particular household
category. Therefore, dependency has
been taken as the number of people
dependent on income earners. (This is
different from the normal definition of
dependency as the ratio of population
under 15 and over 65 to the ratio of
population in the age group 15-64.) This
in a sense, gives the actual dependency
burden, which is the number of people
dependent on a single earner, including
the earning member. It is seen from the
table that the rise in income more than
compensates for the rise in household
size except in the case of households
having four or more earning members.
The above paragraphs along with the
associated tables present the picture
with respect to the income profile of
HIV households as well as non-HIV
households. The above section clearly
shows that the sample is dominated by
lower income households, particularly
in the HIV and AIDS category. Although
the non-HIV households were selected
to match the HIV households, these
households belong to a slightly higher
income group.
4.2 Work force participation
rate among HIV and non-HIV
households in the sample
The impact of HIV and AIDS on
households and the economy is severe
because it mainly affects people in
the working age group. One of the
consequences of this is that children
and the elderly of the household are
forced to bear the additional burden of
looking after the family. In the case of the
15-60 years age group, the overall work
force participation rate is almost similar
though slightly higher in the case of HIV
households (Table 4.5). This may partly
be explained in terms of the smaller
household size of HIV households, which
is linked to lower fertility rate among
these households as the HIV-positive
members avoid having children. That
the impact of the epidemic is mainly on
the working members of the household
is seen from the fact that the work force
participation rate among PLWHA is very
high, almost 75 percent. In the 0-14 age
group, the work force participation rate
is 6.67 percent in the rural sample of the
HIV households for HIV-positive children.
There are no HIV-positive children of this
age group working in the urban sample
and therefore the rate is zero. The HIVpositive
people in the age group of 60+
do not belong to the work force.
The interesting feature is the comparison
of work force participation rate in the
case of children (0-14 years) and the
elderly (60 and above years) across HIV
households (non-HIV persons) and
non-HIV households. The work force
participation rate for these age groups
in HIV households is higher than similar
groups in the non-HIV households. This
gives credence to the general observations
made in the literature that the epidemic
puts additional burden on the people in
these age groups, particularly the elderly,
to look after the family. However, the
non-HIV persons in the age group of
15-60 years in HIV households have lower
participation rate than the same age
group among non-HIV households. The
explanation for this lies in the fact that
in the sample, the primary PLWHA was
an adult male member. This implies that
the non-HIV population in the age group
of 15-60 years would be dominated by
women. Since women have a much lower
participation rate than men, the work
force participation rate in this age group
is low. Further, it is likely that a person
36 Socio-Economic Impact of HIV and AIDS in Tamil Nadu, India