Access to social protection by people living with, at risk of, or affected by HIV in Eswatini, Malawi, Tanzania and Zambia - results from Population-Based HIV Impact Assessments

Abstract

AbstractWe aimed to measure social protection (SP) coverage among the general population and women and men living with HIV (WLHIV, MLHV), female and male sex workers (FSW, MSW), men who have sex with men (MSM), adolescent girls young women (AGYW), and orphans vulnerable children (OVC). We used Population-Based HIV Impact Assessments data from Eswatini, Malawi, Tanzania and Zambia. We generated survey-weighted proportions for each population group receiving any SP benefits, along with 95% confidence intervals (CI) using jackknife variance estimation. The proportion reported receiving SP benefits among the general population ranged from 7.7% (95% CI: 6.7%–8.8%) in Zambia to 39.6% (95% CI: 36.8%– 42.5%) in Eswatini. SP benefits by WLHIV, MLHIV, AGYW, OVC, SW and MSM – were lower than the 2017-19 global average of 45%. Data on access to SP benefits by people living with or affected by HIV from other regions is needed to estimate their SP coverage better.