The impact of food transfers for people living with HIV/AIDS: Evidence from Zambia

We estimate the impact of food transfers on diet and consumption expenditures in food insecure households with HIV positive members on antiretroviral therapy. We use primary data collected from 199 beneficiary and 179 non-beneficiary households in Lusaka, Zambia. Propensity score matching estimates show that the food transfers significantly increase dietary diversity and food consumption expenditures. Our results also show that the food transfers increased the proportion of households with optimal dietary diversity and consuming at least five food groups. The results are robust to variation in the propensity score model and matching technique. Sensitivity analysis demonstrates that our results are largely robust to substantial amounts of unobserved selection bias. We discuss the implications of our findings in the context of the growing number of HIV/AIDS treatment, care and support programmes providing food assistance in resource poor settings.

JEL Classification: D01, D12, I1, 131, 138

Keywords: HIV/AIDS, food transfers, dietary diversity, consumption, Zambia