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. 2015 Oct;145(10):2396-405.
doi: 10.3945/jn.115.213546. Epub 2015 Aug 12.

Participation in the Juntos Conditional Cash Transfer Program in Peru Is Associated with Changes in Child Anthropometric Status but Not Language Development or School Achievement

Christopher T Andersen  1 , Sarah A Reynolds  2 , Jere R Behrman  3 , Benjamin T Crookston  4 , Kirk A Dearden  5 , Javier Escobal  6 , Subha Mani  7 , Alan Sánchez  6 , Aryeh D Stein  8 , Lia C H Fernald  2
Affiliations

Participation in the Juntos Conditional Cash Transfer Program in Peru Is Associated with Changes in Child Anthropometric Status but Not Language Development or School Achievement

Christopher T Andersen et al. J Nutr. 2015 Oct.

Abstract

Background: It is unclear what effects a conditional cash transfer (CCT) program would have on child anthropometry, language development, or school achievement in the context of the nutrition transition experienced by many low- and middle-income countries.

Objective: We estimated the association of participation in Peru's Juntos CCT with anthropometry, language development, and school achievement among children aged 7-8 y.

Methods: We used data from the Young Lives Study of a cohort born between 2001 and 2002. We estimated associations of the Juntos program with height-for-age z score (HAZ), body mass index-for-age z score (BAZ), stunting, and overweight at age 7-8 y separately for children participating in the program for ≥2 y (n = 169) and children participating for <2 y (n = 188). We then estimated associations with receptive vocabulary and grade achievement among children who had been assessed at age 4-6 y before enrollment in Juntos (n = 243). We identified control subjects using propensity score matching and conducted difference-in-differences comparisons.

Results: Juntos participation was associated with increases in HAZ among boys participating for ≥2 y [average effect of treatment among the treated (ATT): 0.43; 95% CI: 0.09, 0.77; P = 0.01] and for boys participating for <2 y (ATT: 0.52; 95% CI: 0.23, 0.80; P < 0.01). Among girls participating in the program for ≥2 y, BAZ declined (ATT: -0.60; 95% CI: -1.00, -0.21; P < 0.01) as did the prevalence of overweight (ATT: -22.0 percentage points; 95% CI: -42.5, -2.7 percentage points; P = 0.03). We observed no significant associations of Juntos participation with receptive vocabulary or grade attainment.

Conclusions: CCT program participation in Peru was associated with better linear growth among boys and decreased BAZ among girls, highlighting that a large-scale poverty-alleviation intervention may influence anthropometric outcomes in the context of the nutrition transition.

Keywords: Juntos; Peru; body mass index-for-age; children; cohort study; conditional cash transfer; height-for-age; overweight; receptive vocabulary; stunting.

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Conflict of interest statement

Author disclosures: CT Andersen, SA Reynolds, JR Behrman, BT Crookston, KA Dearden, J Escobal, S Mani, A Sánchez, AD Stein, and LCH Fernald, no conflicts of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Inclusion criteria and sample size for analysis of the association between the Juntos conditional cash transfer program and anthropometric outcomes among children in Peru.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Inclusion criteria and sample size for analysis of the association between the Juntos conditional cash transfer program and language development among children in Peru. TVIP, Test de Vocabulario en Imagenes Peabody.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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