Economic burden of HIV/AIDS on households: Cross-sectional study in the context of Navi Mumbai, India

Abstract

Context HIV is chronic, stigmatizing disease that has the microeconomic and macroeconomic implications as well. Purpose of the study and procedures We explored the extent of direct and indirect monetary burden that HIV puts on the household, and further correlated it with per capita income of the household and gender of the HIV patient. From a cohort of 547 patients taking Anti-Retroviral therapy (ART) from ART Centre at Vashi, in Navi Mumbai, we selected 61 male, 38 female and 1 transgender patient satisfying inclusion criteria, by simple random method. Data was analyzed using SPSS 15.0. Findings We found that indirect monetary burden (81%) is significantly high than direct monetary burden (19%). For most of the households, monetary burden due to HIV is more than 10% of household income. We found negative correlation between per capita income and share of total monetary burden in household income (p <0.01). Share of total monetary burden in household income is significantly less if the patient is female than if the patient is male (p <0.04). Conclusions We conclude that HIV is a catastrophic disease, more so for poor households. Indirect costs should be rapt whenever an attempt is made to alleviate the monetary burden due to HIV. Findings have significant policy implications, because most of the policies formed to reduce economic burden focus on direct costs. During policy formulation; social, economic and gender inequities and their effects on individual as well as household level are important considerations.