Evaluation of Impacts of Health Education for Children of Microcredit Clients in Peru

An increasingly popular scheme for poverty alleviation is microcredit, the awarding of small loans to individuals too poor or too remote to take advantage of traditional lending services. Studies have repeatedly shown that income is one of the factors strongly associated with physical and mental wellbeing. Yet economic growth alone doesn't necessarily lead to healthier families, especially if basic health knowledge or health services are absent in the community. Microcredit institutions have recently tried to address this issue by supplementing banking-only microcredit programs with programs that include "tie-ins" or "add-ons" such as health education or health services. A rigorous evaluation of such "banking-plus" endeavors has not yet been conducted, leaving a gap in the knowledge base regarding whether these organizations are meeting their stated goals in catering to both economic and social needs. This study attempts to address this research question using a randomized controlled trial of a health education intervention to clients of a microcredit organization in Peru.

Inclusion criteria

• Subjects must be current clients of the collaborating microcredit organization
• Clients must be at least 18 years of age
• Children of clients must be less than 5 years of age
• Study participants must be able to speak and understand Spanish

Exclusion criteria

• Only one client from any particular household may participate