Higher Community HIV Prevalence Predicts Higher Recent Marital Fertility in Kenya

Laurie DeRose, University of Maryland

I estimate the effect of community prevalence of HIV on recent martial fertility in Kenya. The general consensus in the existing literature on the relationship between HIV and fertility is that the relationship is negative, but the evidence for a negative effect of own infection is far stronger than for a negative effect associated with living in communities heavily affected by the epidemic. Moreover, Kenya has experienced recent fertility increases that are not well understood. Among married women, I demonstrate a fertility-enhancing behavioral effect associated with living in areas of high HIV prevalence that outweighs the fertility-suppressing effects of own infection. Further analysis is designed to determine whether this reflects more rapid childbearing or an increase in completed fertility.

  See extended abstract

Presented in Session 157: HIV and Fertility