Conditional Cash Transfers and Child Health

Conditional cash transfers (CCTs) have become a popular social policy initiative for improving child health in developing countries since the mid 90s. The primary aim of CCTs is to improve the human capital of children via the provision of cash transfers to households under conditions relating to children’s health care, nutrition and education. To date, a number of studies have been conducted on CCTs’ impact on child health and nutrition but not much has been done to synthesise this body of evidence in relation to CCTs’ effectiveness in improving child health. This book, therefore, provides a comprehensive systematic review of the evidence around the effectiveness of CCTs in improving child health in developing countries. The analysis suggests that to a large extent, CCTs are effective in improving child health by addressing child health determinants such as access to health care, child and maternal nutrition, morbidity risk, immunisation/vaccination coverage and household poverty. The book is particularly useful to policy makers, the donor community, NGOs, health promoters and all other organisations concerned with child health promotion in developing countries.