Using nationally representative panel data of rural farm households surveyed in 2001 and 2004, this dissertation is divided into two parts. First, the study determines the ex-ante socioeconomic characteristics of prime-age adults who die between the ages of 15 and 59 years of disease-related causes and second, estimates the impact of prime-age mortality on rural farm households ’ composition, farm and crop production, livestock assets and off-farm income. Given the dramatic rise in prime-age mortality in Zambia and other African countries due to HIV/AIDS, there is a critical need to better understand the pathways through with the disease in transmitted. The first essay of this dissertation is dedicated to this end. Results from several probit models show that single women are 2 to 5 times more likely to die of disease-related causes as women who are the heads or spouses of their households. There is no clear relationship between educational attainment and probability of dying; both well educated and poorly educated men and women should continue to be targeted for HIV/AIDS behavior change campaigns. Also, social factors driving the spread of AIDS are considerably more complex than simply poverty-based