Why it matters: Poverty is a big killer.
In 2019, more than 8% of the world’s population will lived in extreme poverty, live on less than $2.15 a day, and about half of the world lives on less than $6.85 a day. Poverty has potential impacts on housing security, education, health and life expectancy.
According to one report, the pandemic pushed an additional 97 million people into extreme poverty in 2020. World Bank estimates, prompting more countries to start cash transfer programs. Of the 962 such programs worldwide, 672 were introduced during the pandemic.
Direct cash transfers have been shown to improve access to schooling, nutrition and health services. Several single-country studies have linked payments to lower mortality. However, it is unclear whether these trends hold true on a global scale.
Harsha Tirumurthy, an economist at the University of Pennsylvania and co-author of the analysis, said: “There is some debate as to whether these programs are sustainable and whether governments can and should pay for them. There are concerns,” he said.
Background: Big results for small payments.
More than 100 low- and middle-income countries have cash transfer programs aimed at alleviating poverty, but they vary widely in amount, frequency and reach.
The new study is the first to examine the impact of cash transfers on mortality worldwide, the researchers said. Between 2000 and 2019, they collected information on these programs in 29 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, 1 country in North Africa, 4 countries in the Asia-Pacific region, and 3 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The data contained information on over 4 million adults and nearly 3 million children. Approximately 300,000 deaths were recorded during the study. Recipients received between 6% and 13% of his per capita income in a given country, often well below $100.
“These are not as large as the amounts that are being talked about for income protection programs in the United States,” said Dr. Tirumurthy.
Still, Audrey Pettifor, a social epidemiologist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who studies cash transfers for HIV prevention and women’s health, said the findings also have implications for high-income countries.
Donors often worry that beneficiaries will misuse their funds to buy alcohol, junk food and other non-essential items, but “the data don’t support that,” she says.
What’s next: Benefits can spread across the community.
The researchers were unable to identify beneficiaries, so they analyzed population-level mortality. The findings suggest that cash transfers may benefit not only women, but families and communities as a whole.
Dr Pettifor said that for households such as South Africa, “these social protection programs actually make up the bulk of their income”. “You can expect these ripple effects.”
Berg Osler, a development economist at the World Bank Research Division, offered a different explanation. Most cash transfers are accompanied by He noted improvements in health services and other infrastructure to support the community.
“Maybe it’s not a direct effect of people having more cash in their pockets,” he says.
The study looked at adults aged 60 and over, and the distinct characteristics of the program, such as the duration and frequency of the benefits, whether the beneficiaries were male or female, how the benefits were delivered, and whether they were bundled with counseling or education. has not been investigated.
“I think it would be beneficial to look at it in future studies,” Dr. Tirumurthy said.
