Is Money Important? The Effects of Conditional and Unconditional Cash Transfer Programmes on Maternal Health Outcomes in Africa and Latin America

Abstract

Background: Poverty constitutes a barrier to poor women in accessing healthcare services in most developing countries. Policymakers and international development organisations have come up with the use of cash transfers to support vulnerable women, especially expectant mothers in their bid to access healthcare services. This review assessed the effects of cash transfer programmes on maternal health outcomes in Africa and Latin America.
Methods: We employed the use of systematic review to search for relevant literature from academic and grey literature databases such as PubMed, Science Direct and Google Scholar. The inclusion criteria of the search were met by eight studies which used different study designs to evaluate the effects of cash transfers on maternal health outcomes.
Results: Among the included studies, four showed positive effects of cash transfers on antenatal care while two showed no effects. In three countries, cash transfers were responsible for expectant mothers delivering in healthcare facilities while in two other countries, the cash receipts were unable to stimulate expectant mothers to deliver in healthcare facilities. All the three studies that assessed the effects of cash transfers on birth with a skilled attendant showed a positive effect while two studies showed a negative effect of cash transfers on postnatal care. In terms of heterogeneous impacts, cash transfers had a positive effect on the use of caesarean section, monitoring weight gain, blood pressure and baby’s heartbeat.
Conclusion: Though evidence from this review is limited, there are visible effects of cash transfer programmes in improving maternal health outcomes.

Keywords: Cash transfers; Expectant mothers; Maternal health; Women; Africa; Latin America