Impact of the Mexican Program for Education, Health, and Nutrition (Progresa) on Rates of Growth and Anemia in Infants and Young Children

Abstract

ORE THAN HALF OF THE yearly 10.8 million d e a t h s o f c h i l d r e n younger than 5 years are attributed to malnutrition, 1 as assessed by underweight (Ն2 SDs below the weight expected for that age, according to the international reference recommended by the World Health Organization [WHO] 2). These deaths are not caused by higher frequency of common childhood diseases but by higher case fatality rates 3,4 and would not occur if the children were not malnourished. Malnourished children who survive have a high risk of impaired health and function throughout life, which contributes to the intergenerational continuation of poverty. 5 In developing countries more than one quarter of all children younger than 5 years, about 150 million total, are estimated to be malnourished. 6 Available nutritional interventions and technologies have proven, under controlled conditions, to be efficacious in preventing and controlling malnutrition 7-10 and improving survival. 11 Because large-scale programs do not provide similar controlled conditions, we would expect these strategies to have less impact when implemented in such

Individual and community factors contributing to anemia among women in rural Baja California, Mexico

“…Contrary to previous studies that found enrollment in Prospera was protective against anemia among children [ 3 , 8 ]; our study found that women enrolled in the program were significantly more likely to be anemic. There are several plausible explanations for this finding.…”

Child diet and healthy growth in the context of rural poverty in the Peruvian Andes: What influences primary caregivers’ opportunities and choices?

“…Even though it was not an aim to evaluate the NGO programme that the respondents participated in, it is within the scope of this study to examine ways in which the programme influenced respondents, as explained in the section on the conceptual framework. Indeed, the findings of this study are in accordance with previous research (31,32), in observing that community-based intervention programmes can raise mothers' consciousness and skills with regard to healthful child-feeding practices. In this study, the mothers not only expressed enthusiasm for what they learned from the NGO programme; they also reported putting into practice at least some of what they learned.…”

Impacts of unconditional cash transfers on health care utilisation in informal sector households in Togo

“…Our findings are in line with the literature, which generally assume that cash transfer lead to behaviour changes and encourage households to pursue better health care 74 . For example, the Progresa flagship programme in Mexico has improved health and education outcomes for children from low‐income households 75,76 . Similarly, Gertler 43 find that Mexico's cash transfer project increased the average number of health facility visits by 2.09 visits per day in the areas where it was offered.…”