The impact of food transfers for people living with HIV/AIDS: Evidence from Zambia

We estimate the impact of food transfers on diet and consumption
expenditures in food insecure households with HIV positive members on
antiretroviral therapy. We use primary data collected from 199
beneficiary and 179 non-beneficiary households in Lusaka, Zambia.
Propensity score matching estimates show that the food transfers
significantly increase dietary diversity and food consumption
expenditures. Our results also show that the food transfers increased
the proportion of households with optimal dietary diversity and
consuming at least five food groups. The results are robust to variation
in the propensity score model and matching technique. Sensitivity
analysis demonstrates that our results are largely robust to substantial
amounts of unobserved selection bias. We discuss the implications of our
findings in the context of the growing number of HIV/AIDS treatment,
care and support programmes providing food assistance in resource poor
settings.