“Study: Giving cash to mothers cut infant deaths in half” by GiveDirectly

Summary 🤰🏽 A randomized study in Kenya found that giving families a $1,000 GiveDirectly cash transfer immediately cut infant deaths by 48%. 🏥 Deaths dropped most for mothers living near physician-staffed health facilities and those who received cash in the weeks before they gave birth. 🩺 GiveDirectly is launching a new program to maximize these life-saving impacts, partnering with a Kenyan community health provider to get cash to more expectant mothers. In rural Kenya, giving poor families a one-time $1,000 transfer cut infant deaths nearly in half, one of the largest reductions ever recorded for a poverty program. With global aid budgets shrinking and funders under pressure to do more with less, the findings point to cash as a powerful, underused tool to reduce preventable deaths. Cash cut infant deaths by 48% The study, led by researchers at UC Berkeley and Oxford, tracked over 100,000 births and found [...] ---Outline:(01:03) Cash cut infant deaths by 48%(02:13) Cash saved lives by helping new moms rest, eat, and deliver safely(03:01) Cash had the largest impact when timed near birth and paired with access to healthcare(04:04) Cash ranks among the best tools we have to save children's lives(05:13) We're building on this evidence with new maternal and newborn health programs(06:19) Cash is an underused tool to end preventable child deaths(06:57) Appendix: How we know cash saved lives (Methods FAQs)(07:04) Cash is well-studied. Why haven't we seen this impact before?(07:56) Then how was this study able to measure the link between mortality and cash?(09:13) How do they track 100,000 births with no hospital records?--- First published: August 18th, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/dNSXKsEqJAiZpTYBr/study-giving-cash-to-mothers-cut-infant-deaths-in-half --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO. ---Images from the article:Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.