Does Orphan Status Affect Primary School Attendance? An Analysis of Household Survey Data from Uganda

The continent of Africa is currently experiencing two major interrelated social challenges, namely poverty and the HIV/AIDS epidemic. According to UNICEF, there are millions of AIDS-orphans in Africa, with over 80% of them being raised by extended families. However, relatively few studies have been undertaken to determine how these orphans fare in terms of access to education, healthcare and other social services. Literature shows that orphans face unique problems when it comes to school attendance, including possible intra-household discrimination. This paper examines the impact of various household characteristics on school enrollment in Uganda. Our results are based on the analysis of data from the Uganda National Household Survey (UNHS) that was conducted in 2002/2003. A multivariate probit model was used to estimate the probability that a child attends school, given a set of selected explanatory variables. Our findings show that factors affecting the probability of a child attending school differ depending on the age of the child and whether the household is located in a rural or urban area.