TY - JOUR
T1 - Cash and voucher assistance and children's nutrition status in Somalia
AU - Doocy, Shannon
AU - Busingye, Martin
AU - Lyles, Emily
AU - Colantouni, Elizabeth
AU - Aidam, Bridget
AU - Ebulu, George
AU - Savage, Kevin
N1 - Funding Information:
We are grateful for the administrative support of the World Vision United Kingdom team, including Tony Locke, Rose Ndolo, and Hilary Williams, and for the work of the data collection team at World Vision Somalia; without which, this study would not have been possible. We are also grateful to Colleen Emary for reviewing the manuscript. This research was funded by the Research for Health in Humanitarian Crisis (R2HC) 2017 Famine Funding Call.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 The Authors. Maternal & Child Nutrition published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
PY - 2020/7/1
Y1 - 2020/7/1
N2 - To address ongoing food insecurity and acute malnutrition in Somalia, a broad range of assistance modalities are used, including in-kind food, food vouchers, and cash transfers. Evidence of the impact of cash and voucher assistance (CVA) on prevention of acute malnutrition is limited in humanitarian and development settings. This study examined the impact of CVA on prevention of child acute malnutrition in 2017/2018 in the context of the Somalia food crisis. Changes in diet and acute malnutrition were measured over a 4-month period among children age 6–59 months from households receiving household transfers of approximately US$450 delivered either as food vouchers or a mix of in-kind food, vouchers, and cash. Baseline to endline change in children's dietary diversity, meal frequency, minimum acceptable diet (MAD), mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC), and acute malnutrition (MUAC < 12.5 cm) were compared using difference-in-difference analysis with inverse probability weighting. There were no statistically significant changes in dietary diversity, meal frequency, or the proportion of children with MAD for either intervention group. Adjusted change in mean MUAC showed increases of 0.5 cm (confidence interval [CI; 0.0, 0.7 cm]) in the food voucher group and 0.1 cm (CI [−0.1, 0.4]) in the mixed transfer group. In adjusted analysis, prevalence of acute malnutrition among children under 5 years increased by 0.7% (CI [−13.4, 14.4%]) among food voucher recipients and decreased by 4.8% (CI [−9.9, 8.1%]) in mixed transfer recipients. The change over time in both mean MUAC and acute malnutrition prevalence was similar for both interventions, suggesting that cash and vouchers had similar effects on child nutrition status.
AB - To address ongoing food insecurity and acute malnutrition in Somalia, a broad range of assistance modalities are used, including in-kind food, food vouchers, and cash transfers. Evidence of the impact of cash and voucher assistance (CVA) on prevention of acute malnutrition is limited in humanitarian and development settings. This study examined the impact of CVA on prevention of child acute malnutrition in 2017/2018 in the context of the Somalia food crisis. Changes in diet and acute malnutrition were measured over a 4-month period among children age 6–59 months from households receiving household transfers of approximately US$450 delivered either as food vouchers or a mix of in-kind food, vouchers, and cash. Baseline to endline change in children's dietary diversity, meal frequency, minimum acceptable diet (MAD), mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC), and acute malnutrition (MUAC < 12.5 cm) were compared using difference-in-difference analysis with inverse probability weighting. There were no statistically significant changes in dietary diversity, meal frequency, or the proportion of children with MAD for either intervention group. Adjusted change in mean MUAC showed increases of 0.5 cm (confidence interval [CI; 0.0, 0.7 cm]) in the food voucher group and 0.1 cm (CI [−0.1, 0.4]) in the mixed transfer group. In adjusted analysis, prevalence of acute malnutrition among children under 5 years increased by 0.7% (CI [−13.4, 14.4%]) among food voucher recipients and decreased by 4.8% (CI [−9.9, 8.1%]) in mixed transfer recipients. The change over time in both mean MUAC and acute malnutrition prevalence was similar for both interventions, suggesting that cash and vouchers had similar effects on child nutrition status.
KW - Somalia
KW - nutrition
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85080900548&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85080900548&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/mcn.12966
DO - 10.1111/mcn.12966
M3 - Article
C2 - 32141183
AN - SCOPUS:85080900548
SN - 1740-8695
VL - 16
JO - Maternal and Child Nutrition
JF - Maternal and Child Nutrition
IS - 3
M1 - e12966
ER -