| Overall impact: | Medium |
|---|---|
Impact: | Positive |
Strength: | Medium |
Juntos is a conditional cash transfer program aimed at alleviating poverty by positively influencing health seeking behaviors and education among women. Mothers enrolled in Juntos are required to bring their children under age 2 years to health centers to monitor their growth and overall health, and they are also required to ensure their children enroll and attend school. In return, these mothers receive 200 Peruvian Soles every two months.
Literature Review
Impact: | Mixed |
Strength: | Strong |
The evidence of the impact of Juntos on stunting prevalence in Peru has been mixed. Some studies have found evidence of positive impact on stunting prevalence.
These positive effects may have been mediated by effective targeting of poor households with young children and increased utilization of health services, demonstrated across several other studies.
However, several other studies have found negative or unclear associations between Juntos and stunting.
Quantitative Analysis
Impact: | Positive |
Strength: | Medium |
According to the linear mixed effects regression, Juntos significantly influenced stunting prevalence in the expected direction for the 2000-2016 period, but not for 2000-2007 or 2008-2016 periods. For the 2000-2016 period, a very low p-value (<0.0001) and high effect size mean that Juntos was strongly and significantly associated with stunting decline.
Based on the decomposition analysis, Juntos gains were significantly linked to HAZ increase in children 24-59 months of age over the 2000-2016 period. For this age group and period, Juntos contributed to a 14.0 percent explainable change in HAZ. However, there was no significant relationship between Juntos and HAZ for any other age groups or periods of analysis.
Qualitative Analysis
Impact: | Mixed |
Strength: | Medium |
According to participants, Juntos served as an effective incentive for families to use child health and education services.
Conclusion
Juntos was likely a very important contributor to stunting decline but may require longer-duration follow up for further assessment. Our ecological quantitative analyses supported positive impact of Juntos on stunting decline in the 2000 - 2016 period, even after adjusting for key confounders. This is very much in line with qualitative reports from stakeholders and literature that endorse Juntos’s critical role in improving child health and nutrition in Peru.