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

Author: EA Forum Team ([email protected])
Published: Mon 18 Aug 2025
Episode Link: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/dNSXKsEqJAiZpTYBr/study-giving-cash-to-mothers-cut-infant-deaths-in-half

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 [...]

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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?