Language

English

Publication Date

3-1-2023

Journal

AIDS Care

DOI

10.1080/09540121.2022.2050175

PMID

35509240

PMCID

PMC9633584

PubMedCentral® Posted Date

3-29-2023

PubMedCentral® Full Text Version

Author MSS

Abstract

Studies focusing on children affected by HIV have shown that they have generally lower academic performance, however, few studies separate children who are HIV exposed and infected (CHEI) and those who are HIV exposed but uninfected (CHEU). Importantly, in rural sub-Saharan Africa, the majority of studies on CHEI and CHEU examine academic performance indirectly based on cognitive test scores. Therefore, studies assessing the effects of HIV on academic achievement directly for CHEI and CHEU are needed. This article evaluates the effects of HIV-infection on cognitive and academic performance by comparing CHEI (n = 82) and CHEU (n = 1045) aged 7-17 years old using cross-sectional data from an ongoing longitudinal study in a rural area of Zambia. Youth completed cognitive and academic assessments; their height and weight were assessed to generate Body Mass Index (BMI). Caregiver questionnaires provided information on youths' years in school and household socio-economic status (SES). Results indicated that while HIV infection status did explain some of the variance in performance between CHEI and CHEU, age, BMI, years of schooling and SES accounted for additional variance. The effect of years of schooling on both cognitive and academic performance demonstrated that CHEI's performance may be greatly improved by consistent school enrollment.

Keywords

Child, Humans, Adolescent, HIV Infections, Zambia, Longitudinal Studies, Cross-Sectional Studies, Academic Performance, Cognition, HIV, CHEI, CHEU, youth, cognitive, academic, OVC

Published Open-Access

yes

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