Jump to navigation. Some programmes provide cash transfers or grants for reducing poverty and vulnerabilities without imposing any obligations on the recipients 'unconditional cash transfers', or UCTs in low- and middle-income countries LMICs. Other times, people can only receive these cash transfers if they engage in required behaviours, such as using health services or sending their children to school 'conditional cash transfers', or CCTs.
It also aimed to assess the effects of UCTs on daily living conditions that determine health and healthcare spending. UCTs are a type of social protection intervention that addresses income. The evidence is current to May We looked for studies that examined health services use and health outcomes. We found 21 studies 16 experimental and 5 non-experimental ones with 1,, participants 36, children and 1,, adults and 31, households in Africa, the Americas and South-East Asia.
The UCTs were government programmes or research experiments. A UCT may not impact the likelihood of having used any health service in the previous 1 to 12 months. UCTs probably led to a clinically meaningful, very large reduction in the risk of having had any illness in the previous two weeks to three months. They may increase the likelihood of having had secure access to food over the previous month. They may also increase the average number of different food groups consumed in the household over the previous week.
Despite several studies providing relevant evidence, the effects of UCTs on the likelihood of stunting and on depression levels remain uncertain. No study estimated effects on dying. UCTs probably led to a clinically meaningful, moderate increase in the likelihood of currently attending school. The evidence was uncertain for whether UCTs impacted livestock ownership, extreme poverty, participation in child labour, adult employment and parenting quality.
UCTs may increase the amount of money spent on health care. The effects of UCTs on differences in health were very uncertain. We did not identify any harms from UCTs. Three experimental studies reported evidence on the impact of a UCT compared with a CCT on the likelihood of having used any health services, the likelihood of having had any illness or the average number of food groups consumed in the household, but evidence was limited to one study per outcome and was very uncertain for all three.
