Abstract
BackgroundChild cash transfers are increasingly recognised for their potential to reduce poverty and improve health outcomes. South Africa‘s child support grant (CSG) constitutes the largest cash transfer in the continent. No studies have been conducted to look at factors associated with successful receipt of the CSG. This paper reports findings on factors associated with CSG receipt in three settings in South Africa (Paarl in the Western Cape Province, and Umlazi and Rietvlei in KwaZulu-Natal).MethodsThis study used longitudinal data from a community-based cluster-randomized trial (PROMISE EBF) promoting exclusive breastfeeding by peer-counsellors in South Africa (ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT00397150). 1148 mother-infant pairs were enrolled in the study and data on the CSG were collected at infant age 6, 12, 24 weeks and 18–24 months. A stratified cox proportional hazards regression model was fitted to the data to investigate factors associated with CSG receipt.ResultsUptake of the CSG amongst eligible children at a median age of 22 months was 62% in Paarl, 64% in Rietvlei and 60% in Umlazi. Possessing a birth certificate was found to be the strongest predictor of CSG receipt (HR 3.1, 95% CI: 2.4 -4.1). Other factors also found to be independently associated with CSG receipt were an HIV-positive mother (HR 1.2, 95% CI: 1.0-1.4) and a household income below R1100 (HR1.7, 95% CI: 1.1 -2.6).ConclusionReceipt of the CSG was sub optimal amongst eligible children showing administrative requirements such as possessing a birth certificate to be a serious barrier to access. In the spirit of promoting and protecting children’s rights, more efforts are needed to improve and ease access to this cash transfer program.
Highlights
Child cash transfers are increasingly recognised for their potential to reduce poverty and improve health outcomes
Cash transfer programs have increasingly become the strategy of choice for poverty alleviation in middle and low-income regions such as Latin America and Caribbean countries (LAC), Asia, and Africa [1,2]
This paper presents findings on the factors associated with receipt of the unconditional child support grant (CSG) across three diverse settings in South Africa
Summary
Child cash transfers are increasingly recognised for their potential to reduce poverty and improve health outcomes. Cash transfer programs have increasingly become the strategy of choice for poverty alleviation in middle and low-income regions such as Latin America and Caribbean countries (LAC), Asia, and Africa [1,2]. Many of these programs have been found to be effective in improving child outcomes such as learning outcomes, child growth and nutrition. Advocates of unconditional cash transfers believe that human capital investment in beneficiaries can be enhanced without enforcing conditionality. This group assert that conditionality is a violation of social protection as a human right since it interferes with beneficiaries’ right to choose on what and how the transfer should be spent [5]
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