ECONOMIC Impact of HIV/AIDS on Households by Savio P. Falleiro provides comprehensive research on how individuals and families are impacted by the Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) in India, which in the long-run also has consequences on the overall economy of the country.

The highlight of the research is that Falleiro has ensured that the final findings and conclusions are inferred on the basis of a research methodology which is a meticulous blend of not just a few carefully planned and applied quantitative research instruments, but also some highly effective qualitative tools as well. Therefore, this renders the study quite authentic, and irrespective of the philosophical or theoretical framework that a researcher stands by, the book has something to offer every individual interested in the topic.

Divided into five chapters, Economic Impact of HIV/AIDS begins with a brief analysis of the disease and its causes. This is followed by three eye-opening and detailed chapters dealing with complex facets of AIDS and its implications, such as on the income and employment of HIV-positive individuals, incomes of the affected families, and their health and medical expenditures. In the fifth and final chapter, once the causes, problems and effects have been brought to the readers’ attention, Falleiro shares the findings and possible strategies that pave the way for potential solutions and betterment in the years to come, that is, if a timely implementation occurs.

For the sake of clarity, three lists explaining all the tables, figures, abbreviations and acronyms are given, which makes the overall reading of the book quite easy, allowing the reader to get familiar with the technical jargon at the very beginning.

The book highlights the severity of this ever-growing problem in several regions of the world: “somebody is infected somewhere or the other with HIV every eight seconds, with another 8,000 dying every day. As high as 95 per cent of those who contract the virus each day are from developing countries … Two-thirds of those infected with HIV live in Sub-Saharan Africa, with the disease spreading in other regions, especially East Europe, Caribbean, and parts of East and South Asia.”

Later the book transitions to focusing on the magnitude of the issue in India solely: “The seriousness of the problem made the Indian Army contemplate making pre-recruitment HIV screening compulsory. Similarly, governments of Goa, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and other Indian states deliberated upon making the HIV test mandatory before registration of marriage. Until as recent as less than a decade back, India was claimed, by no less than agencies like UNAIDS and WHO, and accepted by the Indian government, to be the country with the dubious record of having the maximum number of ‘people living with HIV/AIDS’ in the world.” A commendable aspect of the book’s formatting is the way it has been presented to the readers by dividing the chapters into sub-chapters, making the discussion easy to grasp.

For instance, the chapter ‘Income and Employment’ is divided into several mini sub-parts dealing with the findings of sub-topics such as death of an HIV/AIDS member, income and employment pertaining to the caregiver, additional burden: death of non-HIV earning members, and so on. The advantage that the readers enjoy in the wake of such a division is that it gives them an option to skip to the section that they are interested in without having to go through the entire text looking for it.

Reflecting on the direct and indirect impact of HIV on the economy of the country at different levels, the research uncovers quite a few factors that contribute towards the gravity of the situation: “One of the major economic consequences of HIV/AIDS is its adverse impact on income and employment pertaining to [households] since it primarily affects individuals from the economically productive age group. Reasons attributed to the loss of income and employment include among others: (i) premature death, (ii) currently working HIV+ individuals forced to take leave or be absent from work due to ill health and (iii) employed caregivers having to remain absent from work to look after the HIV+ members.”

A strength of Falleiro’s account is the qualitative approach which brings forth another simple, yet prevalent problem that HIV-positive individuals are faced with whose aftermath would be deeply felt on the economy in the long-run: “Fifty-three per cent of the total sample respondents had to change or quit their job after knowing about their HIV+ status … 14.2 per cent getting dismissed from work; dismissed not because of inability to work, but because of the stigma attached to those with HIV infection … Incidentally, in cases of dismissal from service (despite being fit for work) the total size of earnings lost could be greater … since the time over which the [household] is without income would be longer.”

In the concluding chapter, Falleiro makes quite a few recommendations — out of which the orthodox readers might find some a tad controversial — in light of the statistical analysis of the collected data. These include recommendations for prevention and ‘curative’ steps, education including information and communication provided via compulsory modules for students on sex education in formal education settings.

Economic Impact of HIV/AIDS on Households

(RESEARCH)

By Savio P. Falleiro

Sage Publications, India

ISBN 9788132113591

260pp.