Uncovering the forgotten story of the impact of Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome on economic growth in Ghana: A gender analysis.

Abstract

Aside from being a health issue, Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS) has an economic impact on Africa and Ghana in particular. Despite this, fewer empirical studies have examined the effect of the disease on economic growth from a gender point of view. This study aims to investigate the impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic on economic growth in Ghana. The paper uses time series data spanning 1990-2018 to estimate the impact of HIV/AIDS from a gender perspective. The Cobb-Douglas aggregate function and the Granger Causality test were used to examine the determinant of growth and the direction of causality, respectively. The study's finding shows a unidirectional feedback causality running from HIV/AIDS to economic growth. Controlling for varieties of factors, the study found that HIV/AIDS has a negative significant impact on economic growth in both the short and long-run periods in Ghana. From the gender perspective, the impact of HIV/AIDS on growth was higher in the case of males when compared to females.