How do Roads Spread AIDS in Africa?

This paper empirically analyzes the influence of proximity to road on HIV-infection using geographical data on road infrastructure and survey data collected by the Demographic and Health Surveys in six African countries. Firstly we show that living in proximity to a major road increases the individual risk of infection and that the observed relationship is sensitive to the use of the road. Secondly, our findings reveal that road infrastructure improves the level of HIV/AIDS-knowledge and facilitates access to condoms, providing no support to the hypothesis that HIV-infection is purely due to ignorance and misfortune. Third, we find that the increased risk of infection is driven by a higher likelihood of engaging in casual sexual partnerships that more than offsets the effect of the increased use of condoms. JEL Codes:I10, 012, 018, R23, C21