Rewarding Safer Sex: Conditional Cash Transfers for Hiv/Sti Prevention

36 Pages Posted: 20 Apr 2016

See all articles by Damien de Walque

Damien de Walque

World Bank - Development Research Group (DECRG); World Bank

William Dow

University of California, Berkeley - School of Public Health

Rose Nathan

Ifakara Health Research and Development Centre

Date Written: November 1, 2014

Abstract

Incentive-based policies have been shown to be powerful in many areas of behavior, but have rarely been tested in the sexual domain. The Rewarding Sexually Transmitted Infection Prevention and Control in Tanzania (RESPECT) study is a randomized controlled trial testing the hypothesis that a system of rapid feedback and positive reinforcement that uses cash as the primary incentive can be used to reduce risky sexual activity among young people, male and female, who are at high risk of HIV infection. The study enrolled 2,399 participants in 10 villages in rural southwest Tanzania. The intervention arm received conditional cash transfers that depended on negative results of periodic screenings for sexually transmitted infections, an objectively measured marker for risky sexual behavior. The intervention arm was further divided into two subgroups, one receiving a high value payment of up to $60 over the course of the study ($20 payments every four months) and the other receiving a lower value payment of up to $30 ($10 payments every four months). At the end of the one year of intervention, the results showed a significant reduction in sexually transmitted infections in the group that was eligible for the $20 payments every four months, but no such reduction was found for the group receiving the $10 payments. The effects were stronger among the lower socioeconomic and higher risks groups. The results of a post-intervention follow-up survey conducted one year after discontinuing the intervention indicate a sustained effect among males, but not among females.

Keywords: Communicable Diseases, Disability, Cholera, Economic Assistance, Educational Populations, HIV AIDS, Services & Transfers to Poor, Access of Poor to Social Services, Education for Development (superceded), Leprosy, Education For All

Suggested Citation

de Walque, Damien and Dow, William and Nathan, Rose, Rewarding Safer Sex: Conditional Cash Transfers for Hiv/Sti Prevention (November 1, 2014). World Bank Policy Research Working Paper No. 7099, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2522733

Damien De Walque (Contact Author)

World Bank - Development Research Group (DECRG)

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World Bank ( email )

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HOME PAGE: http://econ.worldbank.org/staff/ddewalque

William Dow

University of California, Berkeley - School of Public Health ( email )

50 University Hall #7360
Berkeley, CA 94720-7360
United States

Rose Nathan

Ifakara Health Research and Development Centre ( email )

Ifakara
United States

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