Health Policies for Women's Empowerment

56 Pages Posted: 17 May 2022 Last revised: 24 May 2024

See all articles by Andrea Berlanda

Andrea Berlanda

University of Padova, Department of Economics and Management

Date Written: May 24, 2024

Abstract

Can major health interventions promote women's empowerment? Focusing on rural Malawi, I study the effect of Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) to combat the HIV/AIDS epidemic on women's empowerment. To identify the effect, I use the ART roll-out campaign launched by the Malawian government in 2004. I calculate an index based on the scope and accessibility of treatment to measure the benefit of ART to rural communities. Women in communities that benefited the most from the treatment, in terms of the number of beneficiaries and access, experienced increased decision-making indicators and decreased justification and experience of physical violence. The rise in women's empowerment can be explained by the positive effects of health improvement on economic empowerment and human capital formation. This paper advocates for the central role of health interventions in future women's empowerment campaigns.

Note:
Funding Information: No funding was received from third parties for this project.

Declaration of Interests: This study has no relevant or material financial interests that relate to the research described in the paper.

Keywords: HIV, Women Empowerment, Health Interventions, ART expansion, Africa, Malawi

JEL Classification: I15, I18, I38, J16, O10

Suggested Citation

Berlanda, Andrea, Health Policies for Women's Empowerment (May 24, 2024). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4089761 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4089761

Andrea Berlanda (Contact Author)

University of Padova, Department of Economics and Management ( email )

Via del Santo 33
Padova, Padova 35123
Italy

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