Beyond poverty alleviation: The impact of child support grants on healthcare access and contraception use in South Africa.

Norman Tafirenyika Nhede, Adrino Mazenda, Dymon Gondwe

Abstract read

In one paragraph

Article in Dialogues in health, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it

0cells of the map it votes in

0citing papers in PubMed

–field-weighted citation impact

1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

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3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Norman Tafirenyika NhedeSchool of Public Management and Administration, University of Pretoria, Private Bag X20, Hatfield, Pretoria 0028, South Africa.

Adrino MazendaSchool of Public Management and Administration, University of Pretoria, Private Bag X20, Hatfield, Pretoria 0028, South Africa.

Dymon GondweSchool of Public Management and Administration, University of Pretoria, Private Bag X20, Hatfield, Pretoria 0028, South Africa.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

This study examines the impact of Child Support Grants (CSGs) on access to medical care and contraception use in South Africa, investigating whether social assistance can enhance healthcare access beyond its primary aim of alleviating poverty. While previous research highlights CSGs' poverty reduction and welfare enhancement effects, little is known about their effects on healthcare and reproductive healthcare access, especially given South Africa's healthcare disparities. Using data from the first wave of the 2020 National Income Dynamics Study-Coronavirus Rapid Mobile Survey (NIDS-CRAM), this study employs mediation analysis to analyse the effects of CSG receipt on healthcare and contraception access while controlling for socio-economic factors. The findings indicate a complex relationship. CSGs have a positive but insignificant indirect effect on healthcare and contraception access and a significant negative direct effect, suggesting that the current grant structure may not adequately address existing barriers. The results highlight the need for policy changes, indicating that while CSGs are vital as a social safety net, their effectiveness in improving healthcare access could be enhanced through increased grant amounts and targeted interventions to address healthcare costs and structural barriers.

Indexed as

Child support grantsContraception useCSGFamily planningHealthcare accessSocial assistance

Identifiers

PMID40809838

DOI10.1016/j.dialog.2025.100228

PMCPMC12343342

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.