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Abstract
Campaigns to prevent the spread of HIV require accurate knowledge of the characteristics of
those most likely to contract the disease. Studies conducted in Sub-Saharan Africa during the
1980s generally found a positive correlation between socioeconomic characteristics such as
education, income, and wealth and subsequent contraction of HIV. As the disease has
progressed, the relationship between socioeconomic status and HIV contraction may have
changed, although there is little evidence to support this. An emerging strand of the literature
on the AIDS epidemic in Africa posits that poverty is increasingly associated with the spread
of the disease. However, this conclusion is somewhat contentious, as other recent studies
find mixed evidence of a poverty-AIDS connection.
This study attempts to shed light on these issues by reporting findings from two linked
studies on the socioeconomic characteristics of prime-age individuals (defined as ages 15 to
59) dying of disease-related causes in Zambia and Kenya.