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The impact of a conditional cash transfer program on food consumption: The Honduras family allowance program (PRAF)
Author(s) -
Wiesmann Doris,
Hoddinott John
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.21.5.a54-c
Subject(s) - conditional cash transfer , poverty , allowance (engineering) , cash transfers , christian ministry , consumption (sociology) , environmental health , treatment and control groups , nutrition education , business , supplemental nutrition assistance program , economics , agricultural science , food security , economic growth , medicine , geography , food insecurity , political science , biology , agriculture , operations management , social science , sociology , archaeology , pathology , law
Conditional cash transfer programs (CCTs) aim to mitigate current poverty while preventing future poverty through building human capital, including nutrition. CCTs make monetary transfers to poor families contingent on their children's school attendance and the use of preventive health services. Favorable changes in dietary patterns are among the desired effects. A before/after, randomized longitudinal treatment/control design is used to evaluate the PRAF program in Northwestern Honduras. In the treatment group, dietary energy availability from fruits and animal products increased significantly by about 17% and 18%, respectively. There is no significant effect on total dietary energy supply. Program impact markedly differs by education level: For households for which the head had no schooling, only the consumption of oils & fats and junk food increases, but there are no significant changes for healthier foods. In contrast, households whose heads completed primary school consumed significantly more dietary energy from fruit and animal products, especially dairy. These findings suggest that nutrition education is an essential component to reach the aims of the program among households with low education, which might otherwise fail to convert additional monetary income into healthier, more balanced diets. Source of research support: German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.