Effects of social programs on indigent population health: evidence from results-based budgeting’s impact evaluations to social programs in Peru

Abstract

This article describes the experience of the MEF’s impact evaluation management as one of the RBB instruments and documents the design and results obtained from three impact evaluations of the most emblematic government social programs. The Service of Visiting Families (SAF) of the National Program "Cuna Mas", conditional cash transfer Program "JUNTOS" and National Program "Pension 65" focusing on objective population’s health the outcomes. Among the main results, it was found the SAF generated improvements in cognitive and communication development in children, but had no impact on mothers’ child care practices or children’s nutritional status. In the case of JUNTOS, there were increases in per capita spending, food expenditure, decreases in severity and poverty gap, increases in school attendance and reductions of school dropout. However, no significant results were found in most indicators of prenatal health, child health, or chronic malnutrition. In the case of Pension 65, there were increases in household consumption and improvements in elderly’s emotional health (depression, self valoration); but there was no evidence of increases in the use of health services by the elderly or improvements in their physical health. Therefore, it is recommended that such programs boost their designs and inter-sectoral coordination with MINSA and subnational institutions, in order to improve contents of healthy practices and child care, and optimize the provision of health and education services, in order to meet the demands of their users.