The impact of Conditional Cash Transfer program on stunting in under five year's poor children

STUDY OBJECTIVE: As stunting is the most perilous health and nutrition problem for children under five in rural poor households worldwide and CCT programs are normally used to reduce poverty through conditionalities, this study examines the effect of CCT program health conditionality on reducing stunting, considering the longer time perspective which lacks in most available evidence. STUDY DESIGN: This was quasi-experimental design. METHODS: The study used secondary household data kept by TASAF PSSN in Tanzania, coupled with corresponding children data from their respective clinic cards. The study used Regression Discontinuity Design (RDD) for inferential statistics regarding household stunting. RESULTS: Children mothers are mostly non-educated with 33 % for control and 23 % for treatment ended in class seven. At 95 % CI and shorter time, the control group were better in stunting by 0.14 points compared to treatment albeit not significant. For longer time, TASAF CCT program through health conditionality compliance reported 0.31 points reduction in stunting significant at 95 % CI. CONCLUSION: The results reveal that for the short time, CCT health conditionality does not result in reducing stunting in under-five children. However, given the longer time (more than five years), CCT health conditionalities have the potential to reduce stunting in children and improve children's health status. The study recommends compliance with CCT program conditionalities as one among the means of improving under-five children's health status. Furthermore, the study urges policy makers to rely on longer-time children's health outcomes for policy decisions as shorter time reveals negative and non-significant.