CASH TRANSFER SCHEMES AND THE HEALTH SECTOR

Thursday, 30th of August 2012

CASH TRANSFER SCHEMES AND THE HEALTH SECTOR

Excerpt below; full text is at http://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/90/7/11-097733.pdf

The lack of information on health systems impact must be remedied to gain a full understanding of the extent to which CTs contribute to better well-being. This is particularly true in the case of conditional CTs because their central rationale is that services are underutilized by those who most need them, even when freely accessible and of decent quality, a problem which a conditional incentive can help to resolve. Whether or not this is really the case, however, is difficult to determine.

CTs and other forms of social protection are increasingly recognized as vital elements in improving health and reducing health inequalities. Nevertheless, health agencies have remained relatively passive observers of CT schemes, rather than active participants in their design, implementation and evaluation. For example, in over 400 documents referenced in a recent evidence review of conditional CT schemes, only 15 were from public health, medical or nutritional institutions and journals.10