Food assistance and its effect on the weight and antiretroviral therapy adherence of HIV infected adults evidence from Zambia

We evaluate the effects of food assistance on the weight and adherence of HIV patients on Anti- Retroviral Therapy (ART) using survey and administrative data on 314 patients and their households enrolled in a World Food Programme food assistance program in peri-urban Lusaka in Zambia. We find no significant differences in weight change at 6 months between patients receiving food assistance and a comparison group of non-beneficiaries. Cross sectional matching and regression estimates show a significant and positive average effect of food assistance on ART adherence. A sub-population analysis finds that the duration of ART treatment affects the effect size of food assistance on adherence to treatment. The receipt of food assistance has significant and larger positive effect sizes on adherence to treatment for patients who had been on ART for less than the sample median of 995 days, while food assistance has no effect (ordinary least squares regression) or some negative effect (instrumental variable regression) on adherence for patients whose duration of ART was greater than the sample median.

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