
The data in the annual_hiv_prev_estimates file are constructed using a combination of annual national estitimates from:

Global Burden of Disease Collaborative Network. 2018. Global Burden of Disease Study 2017 (GBD 2017) Covariates 1980-2017. University of Washington: Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME).

Murray CJ, Callender CS, Kulikoff XR, Srinivasan V, Abate D, Abate KH, Abay SM, Abbasi N, Abbastabar H, Abdela J, et al. 2018. Population and Fertility by Age and Sex for 195 Countries and Territories, 1950–2017: A Systematic Analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017. The Lancet 392: 1995–2051.

Roth GA, Abate D, Abate KH, Abay SM, Abbafati C, Abbasi N, Abbastabar H, Abd-Allah F, Abdela
J, Abdelalim A, et al. 2018. Global, Regional, and National Age-sex-specific Mortality for 282 Causes of Death in 195 Countries and Territories, 1980–2017: A Systematic Analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017. The Lancet 392: 1736–1788.

...and sub-national regional estimates from the Demographic and Health Surveys described throughout the paper. 

Details on the construction of these estimates can be found in Section A of the Online Appendix of:

Luke Chicoine, Emily Lyons, and Alexia Sahue, "The Impact of HIV/AIDS on Human Capital Investment in Sub-Saharan Africa: New Evidence", Journal of Applied Econometrics, forthcoming.