Aid for Aidsand Testing Behavior:Evidence from Malawi (2000-2016)

Clemence POUGUE BIYONG, World Bank

What is the impact of foreign aid-funded HIV-prevention programs on the testing decision? Since the 1990s, Malawi has successfully fought HIV, yet it has the 6th HIV prevalence rate (2019) worldwide. This empirical paper studies the impact of exposure to a prevention program on screening decision. It matches foreign aid-funded HIV-prevention programs implemented between 1997 and 2017 (AidData and Ministry of Finance of Malawi) to 92,310 respondents from four Demographic and Health Survey waves. It finds that exposure to foreign-funded HIV-prevention programs has not increased the likelihood of getting tested. Instead, it has decreased the likelihood of being tested by 3 percent between 2004 and 2010. This impact varies according to the intensity of exposure. The analysis of mechanisms suggests that HIV-prevention programs would have increased stigma without any impact on the level of knowledge about HIV, which was already high. The negative impact is stronger for men than women.