Can Conditional Cash Transfers for Women Who Deliver in Health Facilities Reduce Maternal Mortality in India?

A recent study in the Lancet took a close look at a conditional cash transfer scheme to entice women to deliver in health facilities. The scheme, Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY), aims to reduce maternal, perinatal, and neonatal mortality.

Published along side the study was a commentary by Vinod K. Paul that summarizes several of the key findings of the study–pointing out successes and challenges with the scheme.

“…In just 4 years, its beneficiaries multiplied 11-fold, from 0·74 million in 2005—06 to 8·43 million in 2008—09 (thus covering nearly a third of the 26 million women who deliver in the country annually). Budgetary allocation for the JSY increased from a mere US$8·5 million to $275 million in the same period. Surely, it is time to ask the question about what health outcomes are achieved by this massive and expensive investment and effort. On the face of it, by promoting a strategy of deliveries in the facilities, attended by skilled providers, JSY should lead to a reduction of maternal, perinatal, and neonatal mortality…”

Click here to read the full commentary. You will need to register (free) with the Lancet to access this article.

Excerpt from a Washington Post story on the study:

“…The payment program seems to be working, according to Indian health workers and researchers who conducted the study for the Lancet.

‘The cash payments mean that India is really starting to invest in women. That trickles out to the rest of the family and the rest of society,’ said Marie-Claire Mutanda, a health specialist with UNICEF, which is supporting the program.

In two of the poorest states in India — Bihar and Uttar Pradesh — the number of women giving birth in medical facilities soared from less than 20 percent in 2005 to nearly 50 percent in 2008, according to the most recent data available.

Doctors here attribute that to the payment program, whose Hindi name translates to ‘women protection scheme’…”

Click here to read the full story in the Washington Post.

Click here to read the study, India’s Janani Suraksha Yojana, a conditional cash transfer programme to increase births in health facilities: an impact evaluation, in the Lancet. You will need to register (free) with the Lancet to access this article.

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