Yunus M, 2002. Towards eliminating poverty from the world: Grameen Bank experience. Andersen C, Looney J, eds. Making Progress: Essays in Progress and Public Policy. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 371–378.
Angelucci M, Karlan D, Zinman J, 2015. Microcredit impacts: evidence from a randomized microcredit program placement experiment by Compartamos Banco. Am Econ J Appl Econ 7: 151–182.
Banerjee A, Duflo E, Glennerster R, Kinnan C, 2015. The miracle of microfinance? Evidence from a randomized evaluation. Am Econ J Appl Econ 7: 22–53.
Banerjee A, Karlan D, Zinman J, 2015. Six randomized evaluations of microcredit: introduction and further steps. Am Econ J Appl Econ 7: 1–21.
Attanasio O, Augsburg B, De Haas R, Fitzsimons E, Harmgart H, 2015. The impacts of microfinance: evidence from joint-liability lending in Mongolia. Am Econ J Appl Econ 7: 90–122.
Augsburg B, De Haas R, Harmgart H, Meghir C, 2015. The impacts of microcredit: evidence from Bosnia and Herzegovina. Am Econ J Appl Econ 7: 183–203.
Tarozzi A, Desai J, Johnson K, 2015. The Impacts of Microcredit: Evidence from Ethiopia. Am Econ J Appl Econ 7: 54–89.
Karlan D, Zinman J, 2011. Microcredit in theory and practice: using randomized credit scoring for impact evaluation. Science 332: 1278–1284.
Karlan D, Zinman J, 2010. Expanding credit access: using randomized supply decisions to estimate the impacts. Rev Financ Stud 23: 433–464.
Crépon B, Devoto F, Duflo E, Parienté W, 2015. Estimating the impact of microcredit on those who take it up: evidence from a randomized experiment in Morocco. Am Econ J Appl Econ 7: 123–150.
Karlan D, Morduch J, 2009. Access to finance. Rodrik D, Rosenzweig M, eds. Handbook of Development Economics, Vol. 5. Oxford, UK: Elsevier, 4703–4784. Available at: https://www.nyu.edu/projects/morduch/documents/articles/2009-06-HDE_AccesstoFinance.pdf. Accessed June 3, 2016.
Reinsch M, Dunford C, Metcalfe M, 2011. Costs and benefits of microfinance institutions offering health protection services to clients. Enterp Dev Microfinance 22: 241–258.
Leatherman S, Saha S, Metcalfe M, Mavalankar D, 2014. Integrating microfinance and community health interventions: a narrative review of evidences from India. Int J Dev Res 4: 442–446.
Vlassoff C, 2007. Gender differences in determinants and consequences of health and illness. J Health Popul Nutr 25: 47–61.
Ditekemena J, Koole O, Engmann C, Matendo R, Tshefu A, Ryder R, Colebunders R, 2012. Determinants of male involvement in maternal and child health services in sub-Saharan Africa: a review. Reprod Health 9: 32.
Inglehart R, Norris P, 2003. Rising Tide: Gender Equality and Cultural Change Around the World. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. Available at: http://www.cambridge.org/us/academic/subjects/politics-international-relations/politics-general-interest/rising-tide-gender-equality-and-cultural-change-around-world. Accessed June 3, 2016.
Isangula KG, 2012. Improving women and family's health through integrated microfinance, health education and promotion in rural areas. J Sustain Dev 5: 76.
O'Malley TL, Burke JG, 2016. A systematic review of microfinance and women's health literature: directions for future research. Glob Public Health 1–28.
Leatherman S, Metcalfe M, Geissler K, Dunford C, 2012. Integrating microfinance and health strategies: examining the evidence to inform policy and practice. Health Policy Plan 27: 85–101.
Pronyk PM, Hargreaves JR, Kim JC, Morison LA, Phetla G, Watts C, Busza J, Porter JD, 2006. Effect of a structural intervention for the prevention of intimate-partner violence and HIV in rural South Africa: a cluster randomised trial. Lancet 368: 1973–1983.
Pronyk PM, Kim JC, Abramsky T, Phetla G, Hargreaves JR, Morison LA, Watts C, Busza J, Porter JD, 2008. A combined microfinance and training intervention can reduce HIV risk behaviour in young female participants. AIDS 22: 1659–1665.
De La Cruz N, Crookston B, Gray B, Alder S, Dearden K, 2009. Microfinance against malaria: impact of Freedom from Hunger's malaria education when delivered by rural banks in Ghana. Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg 103: 1229–1236.
Flax VL, Negerie M, Ibrahim AU, Leatherman S, Daza EJ, Bentley ME, 2014. Integrating group counseling, cell phone messaging, and participant-generated songs and dramas into a microcredit program increases Nigerian women's adherence to international breastfeeding recommendations. J Nutr 144: 1120–1124.
Amin R, St. Pierre M, Ahmed A, Haq R, 2001. Integration of an essential services package (ESP) in child and reproductive health and family planning with a micro-credit program for poor women: experience from a pilot project in Rural Bangladesh. World Dev 29: 1611–1621.
Kim JC, Watts CH, Hargreaves JR, Ndhlovu LX, Phetla G, Morison LA, Busza J, Porter JDH, Pronyk P, 2007. Understanding the impact of a microfinance-based intervention on women's empowerment and the reduction of intimate partner violence in South Africa. Am J Public Health 97: 1794–1802.
Sherer RD, Bronson JD, Teter CJ, Wykoff RF, 2004. Microeconomic loans and health education to families in impoverished communities: implications for the HIV pandemic. J Int Assoc Physicians AIDS Care (Chic) 3: 110–114.
Hamad R, Fernald LC, Karlan DS, 2011. Health education for microcredit clients in Peru: a randomized controlled trial. BMC Public Health 11: 51.
Desai J, Tarozzi A, 2011. Microcredit, family planning programs, and contraceptive behavior: evidence from a field experiment in Ethiopia. Demography 48: 749–782.
Montalvao J, Nair N, Rath S, Mahapatra R, Sinha R, Prost A, Costello A, Tripathy P, Skordis-Worrall J, 2013. Health Education and Microfinance: Complements or Substitutes in Reducing Neonatal Mortality? Evidence from a Cluster-RCT in Rural India. Available at: http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1407954/. Accessed June 3, 2016.
Sherer RD, Bronson JD, Teter CJ, Wykoff RF, 2004. Microeconomic loans and health education to families in impoverished communities: implications for the HIV pandemic. J Int Assoc Physicians AIDS Care JIAPAC 3: 110–114.
Smith S, 2002. Village baking and maternal and child health: evidence from Ecuador and Honduras. World Dev 30: 707–723.
Ahmed SM, Petzold M, Kabir ZN, Tomson G, 2006. Targeted intervention for the ultra poor in rural Bangladesh: does it make any difference in their health-seeking behaviour? Soc Sci Med 63: 2899–2911.
Ioannidis JP, Haidich AB, Pappa M, Pantazis N, Kokori SI, Tektonidou MG, Contopoulos-Ioannidis DG, Lau J, 2001. Comparison of evidence of treatment effects in randomized and nonrandomized studies. JAMA 286: 821–830.
WHO, 2012. Country Cooperation Strategies and Briefs: Benin. Available at: http://www.who.int/countryfocus/cooperation_strategy/ccsbrief_ben_en.pdf. Accessed December 15, 2015.
Enquête Démographique et de Santé (EDSB-III): Bénin 2006. Calverton, MD: Institut National de la Statistique et de l'Analyse Économique (INSAE) [Bénin] et Macro International Inc, 2007. Available at: http://www.dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/FR197/FR197.pdf. Accessed June 6, 2016.
World Health Organization, 2010. Benin: Factsheets of Health Statistics 2010. Available at: https://www.ecoi.net/file_upload/1788_1322490858_benin-statistical-factsheet.pdf. Accessed June 6, 2016.
Gray B, Ekoue-Kouvahey T, 2010. Microfinance and Health Protection Initiative Research Summary Report: PADME. 9D: Freedom from Hunger. Available at: https://www.freedomfromhunger.org/mahp-research-summary-report-padme. Accessed November 14, 2016.
Reinsch M, Ruaz F, 2010. Costs and Benefits of Credit with Education: The Case of PADME in Benin. Available at: https://www.freedomfromhunger.org/sites/default/files/MAHP.CostBenefitPaper.PADME_.Paper10d.Eng_.pdf. Accessed June 29, 2016.
Beaman L, Karlan D, Thuysbaert B, Udry C, 2014. Self-Selection into Credit Markets: Evidence from Agriculture in Mali. National Bureau of Economic Research. Available at: http://www.nber.org/papers/w20387. Accessed June 7, 2016.
Kling JR, Liebman JB, Katz LF, 2007. Experimental analysis of neighborhood effects. Econometrica 75: 83–119.
Rogers W, 1993. Regression Standard Errors in Clustered Samples. Available at: http://www.stata.com/products/stb/journals/stb13.pdf. Accessed October 10, 2016.
UNFPA and Research and Applications for Alternative Financing for Development (RAFAD), 2011. Exploring Linkages: Women's Empowerment, Microfinance and Health Education. Available at: http://www.unfpa.org/sites/default/files/pub-pdf/Exploring%20Linkages%20-%20Women%27s%20Empowerment%2C%20Microfinance%20and%20Health%20Education.pdf. Accessed June 7, 2016.
Karlan D, 2014. The Next Stage of Financial Inclusion (SSIR). Stanf Soc Innov Rev. Available at: http://ssir.org/articles/entry/the_next_stage_of_financial_inclusion. Accessed June 3, 2016.
Past two years | Past Year | Past 30 Days | |
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Abstract Views | 309 | 309 | 39 |
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PDF Downloads | 250 | 69 | 0 |
We evaluate whether health education integrated into microcredit lending groups reduces health risks by improving health knowledge and self-reported behaviors among urban and rural borrowers in eastern Benin. In 2007, we randomly assigned 138 villages in the Plateau region of Benin to one of four variations of a group liability credit product, varying lending groups' gender composition and/or inclusion of health education using a 2 × 2 design. Women in villages receiving health education, regardless of gender composition of the groups, showed improved knowledge of malaria and of human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS), but not of childhood illness danger signs. No significant changes in health behavior were observed except an increase in HIV/AIDS prevention behavior, a result predominantly driven by an increase in respondents' self-reported ability to procure a condom, likely an indicator of increased perceived access rather than improved preventative behavior. Women in villages assigned to mixed-gender groups had significantly lower levels of social capital, compared with villages assigned to female-only groups. This suggests there may be an important trade-off to consider for interventions seeking improved health outcomes and social capital through provision of services to mixed-gender groups. Although bundling health education with microcredit can expand health education coverage and lower service-delivery costs, the approach may not be sufficient to improve health behaviors.
Financial support: The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation funded this study.
Conflict of interest: Karlan and Thuysbaert have no conflicts of interest. Gray is employed by Freedom from Hunger, the nonprofit organization that developed the education materials and trains organizations in using them.
Authors' addresses: Dean Karlan and Bram Thuysbaert, Department of Economics, Yale University, New Haven, CT, E-mails: dean.karlan@yale.edu and bthuysbaert@gmail.com. Bobbi Gray, Research, Evaluation and Monitoring, Freedom from Hunger, Davis, CA, E-mail: bgray@freedomfromhunger.org.
Yunus M, 2002. Towards eliminating poverty from the world: Grameen Bank experience. Andersen C, Looney J, eds. Making Progress: Essays in Progress and Public Policy. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 371–378.
Angelucci M, Karlan D, Zinman J, 2015. Microcredit impacts: evidence from a randomized microcredit program placement experiment by Compartamos Banco. Am Econ J Appl Econ 7: 151–182.
Banerjee A, Duflo E, Glennerster R, Kinnan C, 2015. The miracle of microfinance? Evidence from a randomized evaluation. Am Econ J Appl Econ 7: 22–53.
Banerjee A, Karlan D, Zinman J, 2015. Six randomized evaluations of microcredit: introduction and further steps. Am Econ J Appl Econ 7: 1–21.
Attanasio O, Augsburg B, De Haas R, Fitzsimons E, Harmgart H, 2015. The impacts of microfinance: evidence from joint-liability lending in Mongolia. Am Econ J Appl Econ 7: 90–122.
Augsburg B, De Haas R, Harmgart H, Meghir C, 2015. The impacts of microcredit: evidence from Bosnia and Herzegovina. Am Econ J Appl Econ 7: 183–203.
Tarozzi A, Desai J, Johnson K, 2015. The Impacts of Microcredit: Evidence from Ethiopia. Am Econ J Appl Econ 7: 54–89.
Karlan D, Zinman J, 2011. Microcredit in theory and practice: using randomized credit scoring for impact evaluation. Science 332: 1278–1284.
Karlan D, Zinman J, 2010. Expanding credit access: using randomized supply decisions to estimate the impacts. Rev Financ Stud 23: 433–464.
Crépon B, Devoto F, Duflo E, Parienté W, 2015. Estimating the impact of microcredit on those who take it up: evidence from a randomized experiment in Morocco. Am Econ J Appl Econ 7: 123–150.
Karlan D, Morduch J, 2009. Access to finance. Rodrik D, Rosenzweig M, eds. Handbook of Development Economics, Vol. 5. Oxford, UK: Elsevier, 4703–4784. Available at: https://www.nyu.edu/projects/morduch/documents/articles/2009-06-HDE_AccesstoFinance.pdf. Accessed June 3, 2016.
Reinsch M, Dunford C, Metcalfe M, 2011. Costs and benefits of microfinance institutions offering health protection services to clients. Enterp Dev Microfinance 22: 241–258.
Leatherman S, Saha S, Metcalfe M, Mavalankar D, 2014. Integrating microfinance and community health interventions: a narrative review of evidences from India. Int J Dev Res 4: 442–446.
Vlassoff C, 2007. Gender differences in determinants and consequences of health and illness. J Health Popul Nutr 25: 47–61.
Ditekemena J, Koole O, Engmann C, Matendo R, Tshefu A, Ryder R, Colebunders R, 2012. Determinants of male involvement in maternal and child health services in sub-Saharan Africa: a review. Reprod Health 9: 32.
Inglehart R, Norris P, 2003. Rising Tide: Gender Equality and Cultural Change Around the World. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. Available at: http://www.cambridge.org/us/academic/subjects/politics-international-relations/politics-general-interest/rising-tide-gender-equality-and-cultural-change-around-world. Accessed June 3, 2016.
Isangula KG, 2012. Improving women and family's health through integrated microfinance, health education and promotion in rural areas. J Sustain Dev 5: 76.
O'Malley TL, Burke JG, 2016. A systematic review of microfinance and women's health literature: directions for future research. Glob Public Health 1–28.
Leatherman S, Metcalfe M, Geissler K, Dunford C, 2012. Integrating microfinance and health strategies: examining the evidence to inform policy and practice. Health Policy Plan 27: 85–101.
Pronyk PM, Hargreaves JR, Kim JC, Morison LA, Phetla G, Watts C, Busza J, Porter JD, 2006. Effect of a structural intervention for the prevention of intimate-partner violence and HIV in rural South Africa: a cluster randomised trial. Lancet 368: 1973–1983.
Pronyk PM, Kim JC, Abramsky T, Phetla G, Hargreaves JR, Morison LA, Watts C, Busza J, Porter JD, 2008. A combined microfinance and training intervention can reduce HIV risk behaviour in young female participants. AIDS 22: 1659–1665.
De La Cruz N, Crookston B, Gray B, Alder S, Dearden K, 2009. Microfinance against malaria: impact of Freedom from Hunger's malaria education when delivered by rural banks in Ghana. Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg 103: 1229–1236.
Flax VL, Negerie M, Ibrahim AU, Leatherman S, Daza EJ, Bentley ME, 2014. Integrating group counseling, cell phone messaging, and participant-generated songs and dramas into a microcredit program increases Nigerian women's adherence to international breastfeeding recommendations. J Nutr 144: 1120–1124.
Amin R, St. Pierre M, Ahmed A, Haq R, 2001. Integration of an essential services package (ESP) in child and reproductive health and family planning with a micro-credit program for poor women: experience from a pilot project in Rural Bangladesh. World Dev 29: 1611–1621.
Kim JC, Watts CH, Hargreaves JR, Ndhlovu LX, Phetla G, Morison LA, Busza J, Porter JDH, Pronyk P, 2007. Understanding the impact of a microfinance-based intervention on women's empowerment and the reduction of intimate partner violence in South Africa. Am J Public Health 97: 1794–1802.
Sherer RD, Bronson JD, Teter CJ, Wykoff RF, 2004. Microeconomic loans and health education to families in impoverished communities: implications for the HIV pandemic. J Int Assoc Physicians AIDS Care (Chic) 3: 110–114.
Hamad R, Fernald LC, Karlan DS, 2011. Health education for microcredit clients in Peru: a randomized controlled trial. BMC Public Health 11: 51.
Desai J, Tarozzi A, 2011. Microcredit, family planning programs, and contraceptive behavior: evidence from a field experiment in Ethiopia. Demography 48: 749–782.
Montalvao J, Nair N, Rath S, Mahapatra R, Sinha R, Prost A, Costello A, Tripathy P, Skordis-Worrall J, 2013. Health Education and Microfinance: Complements or Substitutes in Reducing Neonatal Mortality? Evidence from a Cluster-RCT in Rural India. Available at: http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1407954/. Accessed June 3, 2016.
Sherer RD, Bronson JD, Teter CJ, Wykoff RF, 2004. Microeconomic loans and health education to families in impoverished communities: implications for the HIV pandemic. J Int Assoc Physicians AIDS Care JIAPAC 3: 110–114.
Smith S, 2002. Village baking and maternal and child health: evidence from Ecuador and Honduras. World Dev 30: 707–723.
Ahmed SM, Petzold M, Kabir ZN, Tomson G, 2006. Targeted intervention for the ultra poor in rural Bangladesh: does it make any difference in their health-seeking behaviour? Soc Sci Med 63: 2899–2911.
Ioannidis JP, Haidich AB, Pappa M, Pantazis N, Kokori SI, Tektonidou MG, Contopoulos-Ioannidis DG, Lau J, 2001. Comparison of evidence of treatment effects in randomized and nonrandomized studies. JAMA 286: 821–830.
WHO, 2012. Country Cooperation Strategies and Briefs: Benin. Available at: http://www.who.int/countryfocus/cooperation_strategy/ccsbrief_ben_en.pdf. Accessed December 15, 2015.
Enquête Démographique et de Santé (EDSB-III): Bénin 2006. Calverton, MD: Institut National de la Statistique et de l'Analyse Économique (INSAE) [Bénin] et Macro International Inc, 2007. Available at: http://www.dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/FR197/FR197.pdf. Accessed June 6, 2016.
World Health Organization, 2010. Benin: Factsheets of Health Statistics 2010. Available at: https://www.ecoi.net/file_upload/1788_1322490858_benin-statistical-factsheet.pdf. Accessed June 6, 2016.
Gray B, Ekoue-Kouvahey T, 2010. Microfinance and Health Protection Initiative Research Summary Report: PADME. 9D: Freedom from Hunger. Available at: https://www.freedomfromhunger.org/mahp-research-summary-report-padme. Accessed November 14, 2016.
Reinsch M, Ruaz F, 2010. Costs and Benefits of Credit with Education: The Case of PADME in Benin. Available at: https://www.freedomfromhunger.org/sites/default/files/MAHP.CostBenefitPaper.PADME_.Paper10d.Eng_.pdf. Accessed June 29, 2016.
Beaman L, Karlan D, Thuysbaert B, Udry C, 2014. Self-Selection into Credit Markets: Evidence from Agriculture in Mali. National Bureau of Economic Research. Available at: http://www.nber.org/papers/w20387. Accessed June 7, 2016.
Kling JR, Liebman JB, Katz LF, 2007. Experimental analysis of neighborhood effects. Econometrica 75: 83–119.
Rogers W, 1993. Regression Standard Errors in Clustered Samples. Available at: http://www.stata.com/products/stb/journals/stb13.pdf. Accessed October 10, 2016.
UNFPA and Research and Applications for Alternative Financing for Development (RAFAD), 2011. Exploring Linkages: Women's Empowerment, Microfinance and Health Education. Available at: http://www.unfpa.org/sites/default/files/pub-pdf/Exploring%20Linkages%20-%20Women%27s%20Empowerment%2C%20Microfinance%20and%20Health%20Education.pdf. Accessed June 7, 2016.
Karlan D, 2014. The Next Stage of Financial Inclusion (SSIR). Stanf Soc Innov Rev. Available at: http://ssir.org/articles/entry/the_next_stage_of_financial_inclusion. Accessed June 3, 2016.
Past two years | Past Year | Past 30 Days | |
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Abstract Views | 309 | 309 | 39 |
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PDF Downloads | 250 | 69 | 0 |