Browsing by Author "Venkataramani, Atheendar"

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    Disability grants and individual and household welfare among HAART patients in South Africa
    (2009) Venkataramani, Atheendar; Maughan-Brown, Brendan; Nattrass, Nicoli; Ruger, Jennifer
    Objective: To examine whether the loss of disability grants creates perverse incentives to forego treatment and negatively impacts health and economic welfare among individuals on highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) in South Africa. Design: Three-year panel study of a sample of individuals in Khayelitsha (a large poor, black township in Cape Town, South Africa) on HAART. Methods: Descriptive cross-tabulations and multivariate individual fixed effects regressions using self-reported health status, adherence to treatment, individual and household incomes and employment status as dependent variables and a binary indicator of disability grant status as the main independent variable. Results: We found no statistically significant association between grant receipt and adherence to treatment, self-reported health status, or side effects from HAART. None of the individuals in the sample reported that they would be willing to forego treatment to remain eligible for grants and all respondents reported perfect or near perfect adherence to treatment. However, a loss of a disability grant was associated with substantial decreases ion individual and household incomes, respectively. Conclusion: While we found no evidence of people trading off their health for income, there still appears to be a large financial burden associated with disability grant loss, which could increase the salience of perverse incentives, especially among those who are unable to find employment. Future research should examine alternative social welfare programs for AIDS-sick individuals that minimize incentives to trade-off health for economic security.
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    Effects of household shocks and poverty on the timing of traditional male circumcision and HIV risk in South Africa
    (AIDS and Behaviour, 2015-05-28) Venkataramani, Atheendar; Maughan-Brown, Brendan
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    Incorrect beliefs about male circumcision and male-to-female HIV transmission risk in South Africa: Implications for prevention
    (Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes, 2015-05-28) Maughan-Brown, Brendan; Venkataramani, Atheendar
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    Increasing access to HIV testing: Impacts on equity of coverage and uptake from a national campaign in South Africa
    (2015-05-28) Maughan-Brown, Brendan; Lloyd, Neil; Bor, Jacob; Venkataramani, Atheendar
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    Learning that circumcision is protective against HIV: Risk compensation among men and women in Cape Town, South Africa
    (PLoS ONE, 2012-07-19) Maughan-Brown, Brendan; Venkataramani, Atheendar
    Objectives: We examined whether knowledge of the HIV-protective benefits of male circumcision (MC) led to risk compensating behavior in a traditionally circumcising population in South Africa. We extend the current literature by examining risk compensation among women, which has hitherto been unexplored. Methods: We used data on Xhosa men and women from the 2009 Cape Area Panel Study. Respondents were asked if they had heard that MC reduces a man’s risk of contracting HIV, about their perceived risk of contracting HIV, and condom use. For each gender group we assessed whether risk perception and condom use differed by knowledge of the protective benefits of MC using bivariate and then multivariate models controlling for demographic characteristics, HIV knowledge/beliefs, and previous sexual behaviors. In a further check for confounding, we used data from the 2005 wave to assess whether individuals who would eventually become informed about the protective benefits of circumcision were already different in terms of HIV risk perception and condom use. Results: 34% of men (n = 453) and 27% of women (n = 690) had heard that circumcision reduces a man’s risk of HIV infection. Informed men perceived slightly higher risk of contracting HIV and were more likely to use condoms at last sex (p<0.10). Informed women perceived lower HIV risk (p<0.05), were less likely to use condoms both at last sex (p<0.10) and more generally (p<0.01), and more likely to forego condoms with partners of positive or unknown serostatus (p<0.01). The results were robust to covariate adjustment, excluding people living with HIV, and accounting for risk perceptions and condom use in 2005. Conclusions: We find evidence consistent with risk compensation among women but not men. Further attention should be paid to the role of new information regarding MC, and drivers of HIV risk more broadly, in modulating sexual behavior among women.
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    What Do People Actually Learn from Public Health Campaigns? Incorrect Inferences About Male Circumcision and Female HIV Infection Risk Among Men and Women in Malawi
    (AIDS and Behaviour, 2015-05-28) Maughan-Brown, Brendan; Godlonton, Susie; Thornton, Rebecca; Venkataramani, Atheendar
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    Who is taking up voluntary medical male circumcision? Early evidence from Tanzania
    (Journal of the International AIDS Society, 2015-05-28) Gummerson, Elizabeth; Maughan-Brown, Brendan; Venkataramani, Atheendar
    We examined the impacts of nationwide voluntary medical male circumcision efforts in Tanzania. Using Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) data, we found that circumcision rates increased from 37 to 47% in regions targeted by the programme. Those who took up medical male circumcision were younger, more educated, wealthier and more likely to use condoms. Efforts going forward should focus on stimulating circumcision demand among more vulnerable men.
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    Who is taking up voluntary medical male circumcision?Early Evidence from Tanzania
    (International AIDS Society, 2013) Gummerson, Elizabeth; Maughan-Brown, Brendan; Venkataramani, Atheendar
    We examined the impacts of nationwide voluntary medical male circumcision efforts in Tanzania. Using Demographic and Health Surveys data, we found that circumcision rates increased from 37% to 47% in regions targeted by the program. Those who took up medical male circumcision were younger, more educated, wealthier, and more likely to use condoms. Efforts going forward should focus on stimulating circumcision demand among more vulnerable men.