Multidimensional Poverty by HIV Status in Eastern and Southern Africa: A Cross-Sectional Analysis of Population-Based HIV Impact Assessment Surveys

Abstract Introduction Multidimensional poverty (deprivations in education, health, and living standards) affects people with and without HIV. We compared poverty levels by HIV status in Eastern and Southern Africa and identified indicators driving deprivations. Method We analysed the 2020–22 Population HIV Impact Assessment data from Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zimbabwe using the Alkire-Foster method, calculating the multidimensional poverty index (MPI), headcount ratio, and poverty intensity, using the Stata 14.2 mpi command. We classified individuals deprived in 20·0%–33·3% of indicators as vulnerable to poverty, ≥33·3% as poor, and ≥50·0% as severely poor. We estimated the number of people in each poverty category, and decomposed poverty by indicators. Analyses were survey-weighted, disaggregated by sex, residence, and age (15–24 years), and differences by HIV status tested using the Rao–Scott chi-square test (p