The Impact of an Epidemic: An Analysis of HIV and Early Marriage for Women in Sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

This paper studies the relationship between HIV prevalence and marriage in Sub-Saharan Africa. We use repeated cross-sectional data from the Demographic and Health Surveys for Sub-Saharan Africa from 2003-2013 and find that the HIV epidemic is associated with higher likelihood of marriage. For young women, especially adolescent girls, the findings imply an important consequence of the HIV epidemic: its negative effect on educational attainment of girls through early marriage. Furthermore, the impact of the HIV epidemic on marriage, which varies from region to region, is shown to be weakest in Southern Africa, the region with the highest degree of HIV prevalence.