Ranking third in the world for HIV prevalence in adults age 15-29, Lesotho is facing a
generalized HIV epidemic. There is strong evidence that HIV status is associated with
giving birth to children with low birth weights, increasing the likelihood of lifelong health
problem in those children. The uptake of antiretroviral therapy among pregnant women
has marked a decrease in the occurrence of low birth weights among HIV-positive women.
Given this dynamic, and the evidence that health knowledge is associated with health
outcomes, HIV knowledge may be a better indicator for women at risk of giving birth to
children with low weight than HIV status. Using DHS data from Lesotho, we analyzed the
relationship between a mother’s HIV knowledge and her children’s birth weights. Two
metrics of knowledge were used: a score variable, created by tallying answers to eight HIV
related questions in the data, and a factor variable, created through factor analysis to
identify the underlying element associated with how women answered these questions.
An OLS model controlling for confounding factors and using instrumental variables was
utilized for both measures of HIV knowledge. This study found that a one-unit increase in
the score variable is associated with approximately a 3.84 percent increase in birth weight
(p=0.001) and a one-unit increase in the factor variable is associated with approximately a
19.72 percent increase in birth weight (p=0.005). While there are limitations to this study
and more research is needed, this initial evidence can be used to advocate for a
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reinvestment of funds into education-based HIV programming. This will not only enable
women to advocate for their own health through knowledge but also ensure their children
have the best possible health outcomes.