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When Knowledge is not Enough: HIV/AIDS Information and Risky Behavior in Botswana

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Author Info
James A. Levinsohn
Taryn Dinkelman
Rolang Majelantle

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Abstract

The spread of the HIV/AIDS epidemic is still fueled by ignorance in many parts of the world. Filling in knowledge gaps, particularly between men and women, is considered key to preventing future infections and to reducing female vulnerabilities to the disease. However, such knowledge is arguably only a necessary condition for targeting these objectives. In this paper, we describe the extent to which HIV/AIDS knowledge is correlated with less risky sexual behavior. We ask: even when there are no substantial knowledge gaps between men and women, do we still observe sex-specific differentials in sexual behavior that would increase vulnerability to infection? We use data from two recent household surveys in Botswana to address this question. We show that even when men and women have very similar types of knowledge, they have different probabilities of reporting safe sex. Our findings are consistent with the existence of non-informational barriers to behavioral change, some of which appear to be sex-specific. The descriptive exercise in this paper suggests that it may be overly optimistic to hope for reductions in risky behavior through the channel of HIV-information provision alone.

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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 12418.

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Date of creation: Aug 2006
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Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:12418

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
O10 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - General

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Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Mark Gersovitz, 2005. "The HIV Epidemic in Four African Countries Seen through the Demographic and Health Surveys," Journal of African Economies, Oxford University Press, vol. 14(2), pages 191-246, June.
  2. Cohen, Barney, 1998. "The emerging fertility transition in sub-Saharan Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 26(8), pages 1431-1461, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  1. Pedro de Araujo, 2008. "Socio-Economic Status, HIV/AIDS Knowledge and Stigma, and Sexual Behavior in India," Caepr Working Papers 2008-019_updated, Center for Applied Economics and Policy Research, Economics Department, Indiana University Bloomington. [Downloadable!]
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