AIDs/Africa/Economy
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A professor in the Department of Economics is researching how AIDS shrinks the workforce of nations in sub-Saharan African, therefore weakening the economies of those countries.
Aired January 15, 2007
1 minute (1.3 MB) | Download mp3
Transcript
Seventy-four percent of teh world's H-I-V and AIDS victims, live in sub-saharan Africa, where the illness has orphaned 12 million children.With your Research Minute, I'm Brandis Griffith-An economics Professor at the University of Kansas is studying how the AIDS epidemic impacts the economy of those African countries.
Elizabeth Asiedu says because life expectancies in some countries have been shortened by twenty to thirty-four years, those nations lose large sections of their labor forces.
And the countries are less productive, because of continuous grieving.
“Of course, if you are sick, you are not as productive; but two, the other is when in Africa funerals are very elaborate.”
“You effectively have about 3 working days.”
Asiedu says many people are too poor to eat regular meals-so even if more treatment drugs were made availabel they may not work as well.
She says one way to fight HIV AIDS is to educate the public on how not to contract it.
For more information, log on to researchminute.ku.edu.
From the University of Kansas, I'm Brandis Griffith.
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