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Throwing foreign aid at HIV/AIDS in developing countries: Missing the target?

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  • Nunnenkamp, Peter
  • Öhler, Hannes

Abstract

We assess empirically whether foreign official development assistance (ODA) has been effective in alleviating HIV/AIDS epidemics, which figures prominently among the Millennium Development Goals. We employ a difference-in-difference-in-differences approach to identify the treatment effect of ODA specifically meant to fight sexually transmitted diseases on HIV/AIDS-related outcome variables. We do not find that ODA has prevented new infections to an extent that would have reduced the number of people living with HIV. By contrast, ODA has contributed effectively to the medical care of infected people. However, conclusive evidence on significant treatment effects on AIDS-related deaths only exists for the major bilateral source of ODA, the United States. In particular, targeted US assistance programs appear to be more effective than the activities of multilateral organizations.

Suggested Citation

  • Nunnenkamp, Peter & Öhler, Hannes, 2010. "Throwing foreign aid at HIV/AIDS in developing countries: Missing the target?," University of Göttingen Working Papers in Economics 111, University of Goettingen, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:cegedp:111
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. Francesca G. Caselli & Andrea F. Presbitero, 2020. "Aid Effectiveness in Fragile States," Mo.Fi.R. Working Papers 158, Money and Finance Research group (Mo.Fi.R.) - Univ. Politecnica Marche - Dept. Economic and Social Sciences.
    3. Khusrav Gaibulloev & Todd Sandler, 2012. "Aid for AIDS in Africa," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 43(3), pages 1171-1197, December.
    4. Bhandari, Aarushi & Burroway, Rebekah, 2023. "Hold the phone! A cross-national analysis of Women's education, mobile phones, and HIV infections in low- and middle-income countries, 1990–2018," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 334(C).
    5. Cruzatti C., John & Dreher, Axel & Matzat, Johannes, 2023. "Chinese aid and health at the country and local level," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    6. Ndikumana, Léonce & Pickbourn, Lynda, 2017. "The Impact of Foreign Aid Allocation on Access to Social Services in sub-Saharan Africa: The Case of Water and Sanitation," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 104-114.
    7. Marlène Guillon & Josselin Thuilliez, 2015. "HIV and Rational risky behaviors: a systematic review of published empirical literature (1990-2013)," Documents de travail du Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne 15065, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1), Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne.
    8. Julian Donaubauer & Peter Nunnenkamp, 2016. "Is Aid for Infrastructure Effective? A Difference-in-Difference-in-Differences Approach," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 36(2), pages 857-870.
    9. Chris Doucouliagos & Jack Hennessy & Debdulal Mallick, 2021. "Health aid, governance and infant mortality," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 184(2), pages 761-783, April.
    10. Thomas, RA, 2014. "Foreign aid and HIV infections: evidence of causal effects from country-level panel data," Working Papers 18673, Imperial College, London, Imperial College Business School.
    11. Pallas, Sarah Wood & Ruger, Jennifer Prah, 2017. "Effects of donor proliferation in development aid for health on health program performance: A conceptual framework," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 175(C), pages 177-186.
    12. Julian Donaubauer & Dierk Herzer & Peter Nunnenkamp, 2019. "The Effectiveness of Aid under Post-Conflict Conditions: A Sector-Specific Analysis," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(4), pages 720-736, April.
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    14. Rink, Anselm & Wong-Grünwald, Ramona, 2017. "How effective are HIV behaviour change interventions? Experimental evidence from Zimbabwe," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 9(3), pages 361-388.
    15. Li, Jia, 2024. "Less stunted? The impact of Chinese health aid on child nutrition," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 342(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    HIV prevalence; AIDS-related deaths; official development assistance; aid effectiveness; major donors; difference-in-difference-in-differences;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F35 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - Foreign Aid
    • I19 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Other

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