Intervention characteristics and impacts of conditional cash transfer programs on mother and child health care service utilization, child nutrition outcomes and the broader community in selected ASEAN countries

Background: Over the last two decades, Southeast Asia Nations experienced rapid economic growth. But the stunting rate of under-five children is still high compared to the rest of Asia. Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) programs play an increasingly prominent role in national and local efforts to reduce household poverty and prevent the undernutrition of under-five children. While information on the direct impact of CCT on child undernutrition is available, the impacts of CCT on female empowerment and mother and child health care service utilization and broader community are less well documented in ASEAN countries Objectives: The study explored to collect and analyze the intervention characteristics of CCT and the reported impacts of CCT program on female empowerment, mother and child health care service utilization, child nutrition outcomes and on social factors in three selected ASEAN countries: Indonesia, Myanmar and the PhilippinesMethods: The study is a systematic documentary review. Five electronic databases (Google Scholar, PubMed, Scopus, Embase and Google) were searched for material published from 2016 to present. The relevance of articles was determined using PRISMA flow chart while Endnote was used for managing data and citations. The results were analyzed by using a Matrix Table. Findings: Out of 1,123 sources identified, 13 were eligible for this review. The study found that although the design and intervention characteristics of CCT programs in the three selected ASEAN countries were different and inconsistent, cash transfer to women can increase their household decision-making power, participation in antenatal care services, and their use of skilled birth attendants. Women also increased participation in child caring practices such as immunization, regular growth monitoring and exclusive breastfeeding. Reduction of the stunting rate was increased when cash transfers were provided to women at the same time as they were receiving nutrition education. In those studies which collected data on social determinants, significant non-health benefits to the broader community were observed and community participation in social activities increased.Conclusion: The study confirmed findings from other countries that CCT programs do increase women’s household decision making power, child caring practices and promotes community participation on social activities. However, ASEAN countries need to promote and support academic research on the long-term impact of CCT on female empowerment in the context of broader gender, governance, social and economic outcomes because there is a lack of studies globally on this area.