The government of Kenya cash transfer for orphaned and vulnerable children: cross-sectional comparison of household and individual characteristics of those with and without

BMC International Health and Human Rights

Research Article

Julius Koech¹  Winstone Nyandiko²  Samuel Ayaya²  Rachel Vreeman³  Joseph Hogan⁴  David Ayuku⁵  Lonnie Embleton⁶  Paula Braitstein⁷  Lukoye Atwoli⁸  Liangyuan Hu⁹  Allan Kamanda^1,10 

[1] Academic Model Providing Access to Healthcare (AMPATH), Eldoret, Kenya;Academic Model Providing Access to Healthcare (AMPATH), Eldoret, Kenya;College of Health Sciences, School of Medicine, Department of Child Health and Pediatrics, Moi University, Eldoret, Kenya;Academic Model Providing Access to Healthcare (AMPATH), Eldoret, Kenya;College of Health Sciences, School of Medicine, Department of Child Health and Pediatrics, Moi University, Eldoret, Kenya;School of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Indiana University, Indianapolis, USA;Academic Model Providing Access to Healthcare (AMPATH), Eldoret, Kenya;Department of Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Brown University, 02912, Providence, RI, USA;College of Health Sciences, School of Medicine, Department of Behavioral Sciences, Moi University, Eldoret, Kenya;College of Health Sciences, School of Medicine, Department of Medicine, Moi University, Eldoret, Kenya;College of Health Sciences, School of Medicine, Department of Medicine, Moi University, Eldoret, Kenya;Academic Model Providing Access to Healthcare (AMPATH), Eldoret, Kenya;School of Medicine, Department of Medicine, Indiana University, Indianapolis, USA;Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada;College of Health Sciences, School of Medicine, Department of Mental Health, Moi University, Eldoret, Kenya;Department of Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Brown University, 02912, Providence, RI, USA;Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital, Eldoret, Kenya;

关键词: Orphans;    Africa;    Cash transfer;    Nutrition;    Food security;    Mental health;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1472-698X-14-25

 received in 2014-05-30, accepted in 2014-09-15,  发布年份 2014

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundThe ‘Cash Transfer to Orphans and Vulnerable Children’ (CT-OVC) in Kenya is a government-supported program intended to provide regular and predictable cash transfers (CT) to poor households taking care of OVC. CT programs can be an effective means of alleviating poverty and facilitating the attainment of an adequate standard of living for people’s health and well-being and other international human rights. The objective of this analysis was to compare the household socioeconomic status, school enrolment, nutritional status, and future outlook of orphaned and separated children receiving the CT compared to those not receiving a CT.MethodsThis project analyzes baseline data from a cohort of orphaned and separated children aged <19 years and non-orphaned children living in 300 randomly selected households (HH) in 8 Locations of Uasin Gishu County, Kenya. Baseline data were analyzed using multivariable logistic and Poisson regression comparing children in CT-HH vs. non-CT HH. Odds ratios are adjusted (AOR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) for guardian age and sex, child age and sex, and intra-HH correlation.ResultsIncluded in this analysis were data from 1481 children and adolescents in 300 HH (503 participants in CT, 978 in non-CT households). Overall there were 922 (62.3%) single orphans, 324 (21.9%) double orphans, and 210 (14.2%) participants had both parents alive and were living with them. Participants in CT-HH were less likely to have ≥2 pairs of clothes compared to non-CT HH (AOR: 0.32, 95% CI: 0.16-0.63). Those in CT HH were less likely to have missed any days of school in the preceding month (AOR: 0.62, 95% CI: 0.42-0.94) and those aged <1-18 years in CT-HH were less likely to have height stunting for their age (AOR: 0.65, 95% CI: 0.47-0.89). Participants aged at least 10 years in CT-HH were more likely to have a positive future outlook (AOR: 1.72, 95% CI: 1.12-2.65).ConclusionsChildren and adolescents in households receiving the CT-OVC appear to have better nutritional status, school attendance, and optimism about the future, compared to those in households not receiving the CT, in spite of some evidence of continued material deprivation. Consideration should be given to expanding the program further.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
© Ayuku et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2014. This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.