Social Protection and Cash Transfers to Strengthen Families Affected by HIV and AIDS

Abstract

This book reviews the impacts of 20 cash transfer programs throughout the world – both conditional and unconditional, in countries with both high and low HIV prevalence – as well as alternative and complementary approaches such as food assistance, work-based programs, social services, and information and awareness programs. The authors argue that social protection is the best way to break the vicious cycle of HIV/AIDS, food insecurity, and loss of human capital. Their findings show that conditional cash transfer programs have significant impacts on poverty, education, health, and nutrition in countries with low HIV prevalence, and unconditional programs in East and southern African countries with high HIV prevalence have impacts on food consumption and human capital. The book also offers specific recommendations for designing social protection programs, including targeting poor households in areas of high HIV prevalence rather than HIV-positive households or orphans, and carefully testing conditionality rather than assuming it to be always appropriate