BackgroundStunting affects child survival and is a key indicator of child well-being. Therefore, reducing stunting is a global goal. Improving infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practices is a recommended approach to reduce the risk of mortality and ameliorate nutritional status. Behavioural change interventions have the potential to improve IYCF practices.MethodsWe evaluated the effectiveness of an innovative behavioural change strategy on caregiver’s knowledge, IYCF practices and nutritional status of children from low-income households in El Alto, Bolivia. Home visits used culturally adapted participatory play strategies to promote recommended IYCF practices. A total of 2014 households with children younger than 12 months at baseline were randomly assigned to treatment and control groups.FindingsCaregiver knowledge and IYCF practices improved by 0.2 SD, as did food expenditures on recommended foods and dietary diversity. No significant effects were detected on anthropometric indicators or anaemia. Treatment compliance was 88% of households at enrolment and 66% at completion.InterpretationParticipatory play-based behavioural change strategies are a promising delivery model to improve recommended IYCF practices. After 30 months of intervention, we found sustained positive effects on caregiver’s knowledge and IYCF practices but no effect on nutritional status. Despite the lack of effect on linear growth and anaemia, our results highlight the relevance of implementing interventions that improve IYCF practices due to their importance for early development and prevention of obesity. Other contextual variables, apart from diet, that could be limiting children’s growth potential in this population need to be identified to design holistic approaches that improve child well-being and human capital.

work is licensed under a Creative Commons IGO 3.0 AttributionNonCommercial-NoDerivatives (CC-IGO BY-NC-ND 3.0 IGO) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo/ legalcode) and may be reproduced with attribution to the IDB and for any non-commercial purpose, as provided below. No derivative work is allowed.Any dispute related to the use of the works of the IDB that cannot be settled amicably shall be submitted to arbitration pursuant to the UNCITRAL rules. The use of the IDB's name for any purpose other than for attribution, and the use of IDB's logo shall be subject to a separate written license agreement between the IDB and the user and is not authorized as part of this CC-IGO license.Following a peer review process, and with previous written consent by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), a revised version of this work may also be reproduced in any academic journal, including those indexed by the American Economic Association's EconLit, provided that the IDB is credited and that the author(s) receive no income from the publication. Therefore, the restriction to receive income from such publication shall only extend to the publication's author(s). With regard to such restriction, in case of any inconsistency between the Creative Commons IGO 3.0 Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license and these statements, the latter shall prevail.Note that link provided above includes additional terms and conditions of the license.The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Inter-American Development Bank, its Board of Directors, or the countries they represent. Abstract:We study the effects of conditional cash transfers to pregnant women on stillbirths and child survival in Bolivia. Payments are conditional on compliance with medically recommended prenatal care and skilled birth attendance. At a value equivalent to just 1% of monthly household consumption, the payments are the smallest amongst national cash transfer programs in Latin America. Using multiple data sources and empirical methods, we show that the intervention reduced the average rate of stillbirths by 9.5% to 22.3%, and increased the survival rates of birth cohorts exposed to the program by 3.5% to 16.8%. The causal pathways of these effects are consistent with evidence of increased utilization of recommended health care services, including early initiation of prenatal care (17%), at least four prenatal visits (16%), and skilled birth attendance (15%). Given the modest transfer amounts and considerable effects on health care utilization, we posit that final health outcomes are likely driven by the health care conditionality, rather than an income effect. The intervention is highly cost-effective, at $184.54 per DALY averted, making the program's pay-per-compliance design a promising policy alternative.JEL codes: H51, I12, I38, J18, O15.

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This study examines the relationship between students' (N = 334) perceived teacher respect and their performance on a math exam in school settings. The incremental validity of respect on performance beyond that accounted for by intelligence is assessed. Results suggest that respect accounts for significant additional variability in students' performance above that accounted for by intelligence. Further analyses reveal that the relationship between respect and performance is moderated by immigration. For German students (N = 150), perceived respect accounts for a part of the variability in performance over the variability accounted for by intelligence. For students with an immigrant background (N = 181) this relationship is not significant. Cultural implications of respect in school settings are discussed.

Características de la vivienda Vivienda.-Mayoritariamente sobresalen las casas como tipo de vivienda en el 24% de los casos, con una marcada incidencia de declaración de cuartos o habitaciones sueltas del 73%. La incidencia de piso de material firme es del 93% entre los hogares. Un 85% de los hogares utiliza gas licuado a través de garrafa para cocinar. Agua, saneamiento y condiciones del ambiente Acceso a agua.-El 81% de los hogares cuenta con acceso para consumo y uso en el hogar a través de agua de red provista por EPSAS en el Alto. Consultados sobre las acciones de tratamiento del agua para beber, los hogares respondieron en un 56% de los casos que utilizan el agua tal como la obtienen. El 44% respondió utilizar filtros antes de consumir el agua. Saneamiento.-La posesión de baño o letrina alcanza el 85% de los hogares en la zona del Distrito 8. Para el desagüe de los desechos, prevalecen la utilización de pozos ciegos (88%) y cámaras sépticas (11%). Una amplia mayoría de hogares declara que vierte los desechos de las aguas originadas en la cocina directamente a la calle (85%). Conocimiento de las madres en cuidados de nutrición y salud Nutrición.-En lactancia, al ser consultadas sobre el tiempo después del parto en que se debe iniciar la lactancia en los niños, el 79% respondió "inmediatamente". Sobre la duración de la lactancia, en promedio, para las madres encuestadas, se extiende hasta los 7.55 meses de edad. Se identificó la edad de inicio de la alimentación complementaria a los 6.19 meses de edad. Prácticas de alimentación en el hogar Lactancia.-En términos de lactancia materna al momento del nacimiento, se observa un inicio temprano de la lactancia materna dentro de la primera hora de vida en un 76.77% de los casos. Según la medición de práctica de lactancia exclusiva en niños hasta los 6 meses de edad, encontramos que, ante la condición rigurosa de exclusividad, la proporción de niños con lactancia exclusiva es casi 0 en esta población. Alimentación complementaria.-En términos de introducción de alimentos sólidos, semisólidos y suaves, un 78% de los niños entre 6 y 8 meses ya comienzan a ingerir estos tipos de alimentos en su alimentación. El 80.23% de los niños entre 6 y 23 meses mantiene una dieta alimentaria mínimamente diversa, que incluye 4 o más grupos alimentarios. Antropometría Desnutrición crónica.-La encuesta detectó una prevalencia de desnutrición crónica de 21% entre menores de 36 meses. Riesgo de obesidad.-La prevalencia de sobrepeso es de 3% de la población, mientras que la prevalencia de obesidad es 1% de la población. Los datos de antropometría fueron recolectados sobre una muestra de niños menores a 36 meses de edad. Salud en niños Prevalencia de diarrea.-La encuesta mide la prevalencia autorreportada de diarrea en niños menores a 36 meses. La proporción de niños que reportan haber sufrido un episodio de diarrea en las últimas 2 semanas es del 18%. Y en estos casos, el número de días que le duró la diarrea asciende a 4.45 en promedio.