Abstract:
ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study was to investigate effects of HIV/AIDS prevalence on youth’s
economic development. The specific objectives of the study were; to find out the causes of
HIV /Aids among the youth of Nyanchwa location Kisii County, to determine the rate of
HIV/Aids spread among the youth of Nyanchwa location Kisii County, to establish the
effects of HIV /aids on the economic growth among the youth of Nyanchwa location Kisii
County and to find out the solution of HIV /AIDs on youth economic growth among the of
Nyanchwa location Kisii County. The study will be of significance to the youth especially
those of Nyanchwa location as they will get relevant information to guide then in decision
making as well as prevention and control of HIV/Aids pandemic and also the society will
benefit from this research as the information will be key in enabling societal development
both socially and economically. The study was based on theory of planned behavior which
predicts an individual’s intention to engage in a behavior at a specific time and place and
social learning theory which looks at human behavior as a continuous interaction between
cognitive, behavioral and environmental determinants. The study adopted a descriptive
research design where questionnaire was the main data collection instrument and the sample
size was 20 respondents. The findings from the study revealed that there are various main
causes of HIV/AIDs among youths and they have direct impact on their economic
development, among the main factors are religion beliefs, poverty, pressure related to belief
and Social pressures. Also, there are many factors that contribute to the rate of spread of
HIV/AIDs among the youth. These factors are; drug abuse, misconception on spread of
HIV/AIDS, delinquent behaviours and socio-cultural norms. The study recommends
counselling on HIV/AIDS to be emphasized not only to the infected but also to the families
or people handling the HIV/AIDS victims. The study also recommends that low-income
earning youth should be encouraged to engage in income generating activities or attend
training in order to expand their skill thus betterment of their chances of getting employed or
to help them operate their business profitably. Finally, based on the findings that HIV/AIDS
is rapidly spreading among the couples than the singles, the study recommends that measures
effective measures to be taken to stop the spread because it leads to more youths getting
