Health Education for Microcredit Clients in Peru: A Randomized Controlled Trial
This study investigates the role of health education on improving child health outcome amongst clients of PRISMA, a microcredit organization in Pucallpa, Peru. It employs a parallel group randomized controlled trial to gather data.
The study collected baseline data in February 2007. It then randomly assigned loan groups, consisting of 15 to 20 clients, to receive a health education intervention, based on the World Health Organization’s Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI) community intervention. The follow-up data, collected in February 2008, assessed socio-demographic information, knowledge of child health issues and child health status. The study used multivariate regressions to explore the effects of treatment on key outcome variables. Findings include:
- Clients in the IMCI treatment arm demonstrated more knowledge about a variety of issues related to child health;
- There were no changes in reported child health status of clients who received health education as compared to those who did not.
The paper concludes that the intervention was not intense enough to change behavior, or that microcredit organizations may not be an appropriate setting for the administration of child health educational interventions of this type.
