The Effects of Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) on Life Expectancy in Sub Saharan Africa

Abstract

This study seeks to discover the impact of the HIV/AIDS treatment antiretroviral therapy (ART) on life expectancy in Sub Saharan Africa (SSA). Six predictor variables (gross domestic product, foreign direct investment, political stability, literacy rate, the prevalence of HIV/AIDS, and health expenditure) found to be significant in the literature were used to control for extraneous relationships. A hierarchical multiple regression was performed to measure the effects of ART on life expectancy. It was found that when controlling for certain predictor variables, the percentage of the population with HIV/AIDS receiving ART was a significant predictor of the change in life expectancy from 2000-2015. This suggests that to continue the increase in life expectancy in SSA, policymakers should focus on making ART more easily accessible to those who need it most.