Results Current evidence indicates that incentives can be effective in driving health behaviour change under certain provisos , while a number of misgivings continue to be deliberated on .
Conclusion These key principles can assist policy makers in making decisions on the use of financial incentives directed at achieving improvements in public health
Background The use of financial incentives or pay-for-performance programs for health care providers has triggered emerging interest in the use of financial incentives for encouraging health behaviour change .
Purpose This paper aims to identify key conditions under which the use of financial incentives for improvements in public health outcomes is most likely to be effective and appropriate .
Role of cash in conditional cash transfer programmes for child health, growth, and development: an analysis of Mexico's Oportunidades
BACKGROUND Many governments have implemented conditional cash transfer ( CCT ) programmes with the goal of improving options for poor families through interventions in health , nutrition , and education . Families enrolled in CCT programmes  receive cash in exchange for complying with certain conditions : preventive health requirements and nutrition supplementation , education , and monitoring design ed to improve health outcomes and promote positive behaviour change . Our aim was to disaggregate the effects of cash transfer from those of other programme components . METHODS In an intervention that began in 1998 in Mexico , low-income communities ( n=506 ) were r and omly assigned to be enrolled in a CCT programme  ( Oportunidades , formerly Progresa ) immediately or 18 months later . In 2003 , children ( n=2449 ) aged 24 - 68 months who had been enrolled in the programme their entire lives were assessed for a wide variety of outcomes . We used linear and logistic regression to determine the effect size for each outcome that is associated with a doubling of cash transfers while controlling for a wide range of covariates , including measures of household socioeconomic status . FINDINGS A doubling of cash transfers was associated with higher height-for-age Z score ( beta 0.20 , 95 % CI 0.09 - 0.30 ; p<0.0001 ) , lower prevalence of stunting ( -0.10 , -0.16 to -0.05 ; p<0.0001 ) , lower body-mass index for age percentile ( -2.85 , -5.54 to -0.15 ; p=0.04 ) , and lower prevalence of being overweight ( -0.08 , -0.13 to -0.03 ; p=0.001 ) . A doubling of cash transfers was also associated with children doing better on a scale of motor development , three scales of cognitive development , and with receptive language . INTERPRETATION Our results suggest that the cash transfer component of Oportunidades is associated with better outcomes in child health , growth , and development
Results Current evidence indicates that incentives can be effective in driving health behaviour change under certain provisos , while a number of misgivings continue to be deliberated on .
Conclusion These key principles can assist policy makers in making decisions on the use of financial incentives directed at achieving improvements in public health
Background The use of financial incentives or pay-for-performance programs for health care providers has triggered emerging interest in the use of financial incentives for encouraging health behaviour change .
Purpose This paper aims to identify key conditions under which the use of financial incentives for improvements in public health outcomes is most likely to be effective and appropriate .