Research | Job prospects decline after HIV diagnosis
People diagnosed with HIV have fewer job opportunities, work fewer hours, earn less income and are more likely to receive disability or sickness benefits, according to research. Researchers are calling for stricter HIV prevention measures.
This is evident from a joint study by UvA researchers, the HIV Monitoring Foundation (SHM) and the Amsterdam Research Centre for Health Economics and Management. The results of the study have now been published in Nature Communications. According to the researchers, the effects of an HIV diagnosis persist for up to seven years after diagnosis. The researchers are calling for stricter HIV prevention measures. See here for the abstract of the study.
This study is the first to link medical data to national labour market data from Statistics Netherlands (CBS). This made it possible to accurately map the economic consequences of living with HIV. The researchers compared 5,960 people diagnosed with HIV between 2010 and 2022 with a control group of 59,600 similar individuals from the general population.
Almost 10 per cent drop in income
“Until now, we knew little about the economic consequences of living with HIV,” says Andrei Tuiu, lead researcher and PhD candidate at the Amsterdam School of Economics at the UvA. “With this study, we provide the first concrete, quantitative estimates of the impact on work and income.”
For example, it appears that after an HIV diagnosis, the chance of paid work decreases by 4 per cent, the number of hours worked decreases by 5 per cent, income decreases by 9 per cent, and the chance of receiving disability or sickness benefits increases by as much as 46 per cent. On average, people lose €3,584 per year in income after an HIV diagnosis. Before the diagnosis, this group earned an average of €40,135 per year.
A late HIV diagnosis
The researchers also looked at differences between a timely and a late HIV diagnosis – when the immune system is already significantly weakened. The effects are present in both groups, but are stronger in the group of people with a late HIV diagnosis. In this group, the chance of employment falls by 6 per cent (compared to 3 per cent with a timely diagnosis), the number of hours worked decreases more sharply (6 per cent compared to 5 per cent), and the chance of receiving disability or sickness benefits increases by 60 per cent (compared to 37 per cent). The loss of income is approximately 9% per year in both groups. “The labour market consequences are significant, regardless of the time of diagnosis, but clearly greater for people who are diagnosed late,” says Tuiu.
Early detection
According to Marc van der Valk, co-author and director of the HIV Monitoring Foundation (SHM) and internist-infectiologist at Amsterdam UMC, the results show that the impact of HIV extends beyond health alone. He believes the study makes it very clear that HIV also has less visible social consequences.
“That is why it is important that the findings are widely shared in order to strengthen HIV prevention policy and early detection initiatives in the Netherlands.”
