Gender Differences in AIDS Mortality since the Introduction of Antiretroviral Therapy in Ethiopia

Georges Reniers, University of Pennsylvania
Tekebash Araya, Addis Ababa University
Eduard J. Sanders, Wellcome Trust

The rollout of antiretroviral treatment (ART) in eastern and southern Africa will be one of the most important public health interventions in the years to come. Among the lingering dangers in that effort is that inequalities in infection rates will be compounded by inequities in the access to treatment. Because of a lack of vital registration systems, however, the settings where these concerns are probably most legitimate go without monitoring. We use 5-year data from an ongoing surveillance of burials at all cemeteries of Addis Ababa to investigate the population level impact of antiretroviral treatment on sex-specific adult mortality trends. To that end, we use life table techniques as well as methods that are based on the lay reports of the causes of death. Preliminary results suggest that AIDS mortality indeed declined since the introduction of ART, but more so for men than for women.