Citation

Scanlan SJ. Int. J. Comp. Sociol. 2010; 51(3): 211-232.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2010, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/0020715210363458

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This article examines child well-being in less industrialized societies through a gender and development perspective. Using a quantitative, cross-national analysis of data from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) among other sources, I find that child HIV/AIDS infections and adult female prevalence of the disease increase child mortality while female empowerment and gender equality decrease its prevalence. In addition, an interaction between female empowerment and the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in the adult population also reduces child mortality, revealing the significance of gender for where the disease is more concentrated. Findings are net of controls for economic development, population pressure, democratization, economic globalization, child health, child hunger, and region. The global realities of HIV/AIDS reveal the need for increasingly undertaking cross-national analysis of the disease and issues of gender, development, and women’s contributions to human security.