Evaluation of a Cash Transfer Program in Low-Income Families in Guinea-Bissau

Diabetes Clinical Trial

Official title:

Evaluation of a Cash Transfer Program in Low-Income Families in Guinea-Bissau

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Active, not recruiting

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT03455257
• Other study ID #: 1234
• Status: Active, not recruiting
• Phase: N/A
• First received: February 21, 2018
• Last updated: February 27, 2018
• Start date: April 25, 2017
• Est. completion date: December 2020

Study information

• Verified date: February 2018
• Source: Ministry of Finance, Guinea-Bissau
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

This pilot study will test the effect of a cash transfer program aiming to improve family food consumption patterns, family health and schooling, with resulting benefits for childhood growth and cognition.

Description:

Cash transfer (CT) programs in low-income countries that allow recipients to receive cash designated for specific household expenditures such as food and family health and education typically show significant program benefits. In particular, several programs have shown positive impacts on use of health care resources, nutrition status and self-reported health, along with significant improvements in the motor and cognitive development of young children.

Guinea-Bissau is currently the 11th poorest country and is thus an appropriate target for a cash transfer program. This project will pilot test the effect of a 2 year cash transfer program aiming to improve family food consumption patterns, family health and schooling, with resulting benefits for childhood growth and cognition. Family-wide assessment will be conducted to examine the impact in all family members. Baseline and 3 follow up assessments will be completed.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Active, not recruiting
• Enrollment: 34148
• Est. completion date: December 2020
• Est. primary completion date: December 2020
• Accepts healthy volunteers: No
• Gender: All
• Age group: N/A and older

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• Families (defined as groups of individuals who routinely eat together) in 3 regions of Guinea-Bissau.

• Identified by developing scale based upon household characteristics and assets per capita. As well as access to services such as water, electricity and sanitation.

• Families having the lowest score identified as lowest income were recruited.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Families with high scores on asset scale.

• Families uninterested in participating.

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Anemia
• Childhood Cognition
• Childhood Growth
• Diabetes
• Per Capita Food Consumption Expenditure
• School Registration and Attendence

Intervention

Behavioral:
• Cash Transfer
The heads of households will receive a cash transfer for up to 7 family members in the home every quarter. Head of households will be expected to attend meetings every 4 months at their local community health centers led by Community Health Workers (CHW). Meetings will have 2 components: 1) children under 5 will be measured to identify children at risk of malnutrition and 2) group education sessions. There will also be monthly growth monitoring and education sessions led by CHW for a subgroup of head of households with children identified as risk of malnutrition with rapid referrals to regional tertiary clinics for any children with health problems that cannot be addressed by CHW.

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
Guinea-Bissau	PDDC	Bissau

Sponsors (4)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
Ministry of Finance, Guinea-Bissau	International Partnership for Human Development (IPHD), National Institute of Statistics (INE), World Bank

Country where clinical trial is conducted

Guinea-Bissau, 

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Change in per capita food expeditures	change in per capita food expenditure per family will be calculated.	Baseline, year 1, year 2 and year 3
Secondary	Changes in family demographics	Changes in family demographics will be tracked.	Baseline, year 1, year 2 and year 3
Secondary	Change in weight	Change in weight for all participants in the study and children born after cash transfer program starts.	Baseline, year 1, year 2 and year 3
Secondary	Change in height	Change in height for all participants in the study and children born after cash transfer program starts.	Baseline, year 1, year 2 and year 3
Secondary	Change in mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC)	Change in MUAC for all participants in the study and children born after cash transfer program starts.	Baseline, year 1, year 2 and year 3
Secondary	Change in waist circumference	Change in waist circumference for all participants in the study and children born after cash transfer program starts.	Baseline, year 1, year 2 and year 3
Secondary	Change in hemoglobin	Change in hemoglobin for pregnant women, children born after the program begins, older children born in 2003, 2010, 2014.	Baseline, year 1, year 2 and year 3
Secondary	Change in blood pressure	Change in blood pressure will be measured in 100 randomly selected families in each region with a family size 2-4 and 5-8.	Baseline, year 1, year 2 and year 3
Secondary	Change in HbA1c	Change in HbA1c will be measured in 100 randomly selected families in each region with a family size 2-4 and 5-8.	Baseline, year 1, year 2 and year 3
Secondary	Food intake	Food intake assessment	Year 1, year 2 and year 3
Secondary	Cognition function	Children born after the cash transfer progam will have a single cognitive function test at 18 months of age.	When children are 18th months
Secondary	Change in school attendence	School enrollment, attendance, drop out and grade graduation will be assessed for all children through data extraction from school records.	Each semester of school in year 1, 2 and 3 of study
Secondary	Change in head circumference	Children born after the cash transfer progam will have head circumference taken.	After birth, year 1, year 2, year 3
Secondary	Change in Literacy	Children 7 and 14 will complete literacy testing.	Year 1, year 2, year 3
Secondary	Change in Grip Strength	Change in grip strength will be measured in 100 randomly selected families in each region with a family size 2-4 and 5-8.	Baseline, year 1, year 2 and year 3