More details on the functioning of Bolsa Familia

The Impact of Conditional Cash Transfers on Health Status: The Brazilian Bolsa Familia Programme

“Conditional cash transfers are becoming the standard approach to reducing poverty levels; the Brazilian Bosa Familia Grogram, in particular, is the largest programo fo this kind, and the evaluation of its impact allows for drawing some interesting conclusions, which may apply to other countires.  IN this paper, the lack of positve resutls in terms of both health status and modification of unhealthy habits is underlined.  Among idfferent causes, which are discussed, ehre thexistence of barriers on the supply side appears tas the most important limiation for obtaining better results.  The positive impact of this program on both educatino and poverty reduction however, allows for predicting improvements in health status in the long run.” –Castineria, Nunes and Rungo

This article is extraordinarily informative, outlining the functioning of the system (requirements and benefits), exploring the contrasting results in poverty and eduction vs. health, and finally discussing possible explanations.

Full text here: 

http://www.scielosp.org/scielo.php?pid=S1135-57272009000100007&script=sci_abstract&tlng=pt

My notes here: Notes on Castineria