Negative Reality of the HIV Positives: Evaluating Welfare Loss in a Low Prevalence Country

Abstract

Using primary household data from India we estimate family utility function parameters that measure the relative importance of consumption, schooling of children and health (both physical and mental) and find that mental health is far more important than consumption or children's schooling in determining household utility. We then estimate that the monetary equivalent of the welfare loss to an HIV family is Rs. 66,039 per month, whereas the losses to an HIV male and female are Rs. 67,601 and Rs. 65,120 per month respectively. These figures are huge given that the average per capita consumption expenditure of the families in our sample is just Rs.