Evaluating Conditional Cash Transfers for HIV/STI Prevention in Rural Tanzania: One-Year Post-Intervention Follow-up

Damien de Walque, World Bank Group
William H. Dow, University of California, Berkeley
Rose Nathan, Ifakara Health Institute (IHI)
Carol Medlin, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

We conducted a “proof of concept” study to evaluate the use of conditional cash transfers (CCTs) as an HIV/STI prevention strategy to incentivize safe sex. The one-year randomized intervention linked cash transfers to negative STI results among 2399 young adults in rural Tanzania. Previously reported results found a significant STI reduction in the intervention arm at the one-year endpoint. The current paper will report on a longer-term follow-up one year after the intervention ended. Specifically, we test three hypotheses: (1) beneficial effects do not persist after removal of incentives, (2) the temporary incentives may have decreased the intrinsic motivation to avoid risky behaviors, thus worsening risky behaviors in the long run, versus (3) incentivized learning results in lasting long-run benefits.