Household Deaths and Children’s Schooling: Quantifying the Effects of HIV/AIDS on Adolescent’s Work-Schooling Choices in Malawi

Flora J. Nankhuni, University of Pennsylvania

Malawi is one of the countries seriously affected by the HIV-AIDS epidemic. Adult HIV-prevalence is 14.2%, the eighth largest in the world. HIV-AIDS is the leading cause of death among those aged 20-49. These deaths can have serious implications on surviving members. For example, Carter and Maluccio (2003) show that death of a household member is the most frequently mentioned shock (32.2% of the times) that a household in South Africa experienced in 1993 and 1998, followed by serious injury (18%). In Malawi, 'taking children out of school' is reported as one of the coping strategies from HIV-AIDS. This study will show the impact of adult deaths on adolescent children’s probability to attend school and on their time allocation to schooling and work. The study will also show the impact of expected future death. Survey and biomarker data, on about 1,000 adolescents, collected in March-August 2004 will be used.