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In many countries at development, conditional transfers to households have had positive results in improving the health of the population. This was pointed out by Marcos Vera, professor at University College London, who spoke as speaker in the IV Development Weekorganized by the Navarra Center for International Development of the University of Navarra at IESE Business School in Madrid.           

This subject policy consists of regular cash transfers to poor households - usually to mothers - in exchange for, for example, taking children to high school or to the health center for vaccinations or regular check-ups.

In 2010, they had already been tested in at least 19 countries, and there are now possibly more than twenty, said Prof. Vera. However, although he confirmed that in most cases the data have been positive, "it is difficult to give a single recipe": "These policies aim to eliminate barriers, but as in different countries or contexts these difficulties change, it is difficult to find a universal policy that works worldwide".

The University College London professor recommended analyzing where the restrictions and impediments are in order to design better policies. "It may be, for example, that the household has no incentive to seek health care or that the quality of the service is so poor that there is no point in seeking it," he said.

"The use of health services is quite sensitive to the price paid," he recalled, although he added that, although healthcare constitutes a expense for countries, it is actually an investment in the future of their human capital. "There is evidence on the importance of healthcare in early childhood, including during the gestation period. Access to it increases life expectancy and improves people's cognitive performance," he said.

In Colombia," he mentioned, "there have been experiences of extending health insurance to the poorest and these have been matched by an increase in visits to the doctor, preventive care, a reduction in hospitalizations...".

Softening social norms

With respect to the modification of the population's behavior through this subject program, Marcos Vera pointed out that "it would be necessary to see if these programs really change habits or social norms or, on the contrary, if they only improve an economic aspect and the effect will only take place as long as the economic incentives are maintained, unless they have served to improve household income".

As an example of the former, he related that a conditional transfer program implemented in Mexico served to change men's views on allowing women to be screened for cervical cancer. "It is interesting to see how such transfers made it possible to soften the rules and improve the balance."

Marcos Vera presented at Development Week the results of a research in schools in rural China, where the prevalence of anemia is very high. It was verified that it is effective to give monetary incentives to school principals to reduce this ailment.

The University College London specialist made these statements at framework of the fourth edition of Development Week, a congress on Economics of development organized annually by NCID.

This group of research belonging to Institute for Culture and Society (ICS) of the University of Navarra seeks scientific solutions -viable and sustainable- to situations of extreme poverty in countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. To achieve this, it focuses on three lines: the quality of public and private institutions in each nation, technology transfer and migration.