Schooling, Income, and HIV Risk in Malawi

NCT ID: NCT01333826

Last Updated: 2025-08-20

Study Results

Results pending

The study team has not published outcome measurements, participant flow, or safety data for this trial yet. Check back later for updates.

Basic Information

Get a concise snapshot of the trial, including recruitment status, study phase, enrollment targets, and key timeline milestones.

Recruitment Status

COMPLETED

Clinical Phase

NA

Total Enrollment

3796 participants

Study Classification

INTERVENTIONAL

Study Start Date

2007-09-30

Study Completion Date

2025-05-31

Brief Summary

Review the sponsor-provided synopsis that highlights what the study is about and why it is being conducted.

This study is designed to evaluate a two-year randomized intervention in Malawi that provides cash transfers to current schoolgirls (and young women who have recently dropped out of school) to stay in (and return to) school in order to understand the possible effects of such programs on the sexual behavior of the beneficiaries and their subsequent HIV risk.

Detailed Description

Dive into the extended narrative that explains the scientific background, objectives, and procedures in greater depth.

Motivation:

Education has been suggested as a "social vaccine" to prevent the spread of HIV (Jukes, Simmons, and Bundy, 2008), but almost all of the evidence we have on the link between school attendance (or attainment) and the risk of HIV infection comes from cross-sectional studies. Furthermore, the role of income (especially that of women's poverty) has been hypothesized as a significant factor in the spread of HIV in SSA, but again there is no credible evidence showing a causal link between income and HIV risk. A randomized intervention, such as the one proposed here, that provides randomly varied amounts of cash transfers to young individuals and their guardians is the perfect setting to examine the possible existence of such causal relationships.

Objectives:

The objective of the proposed study here is to provide credible evidence on issues about which we still know very little. Specifically, the main questions the study will try to answer are the following:

1. Are the observed effects of a CCT associated with the transfer or the conditionality imposed on the recipient?
2. Do the outcomes of interest improve with increased benefit levels set by the program?
3. Do CCT programs for schooling have any positive health impacts, including prevention of STIs such as HIV/AIDS among young people?

Conditions

See the medical conditions and disease areas that this research is targeting or investigating.

HIV Schooling Conditional Cash Transfers Unconditional Cash Transfers

Study Design

Understand how the trial is structured, including allocation methods, masking strategies, primary purpose, and other design elements.

Allocation Method

RANDOMIZED

Intervention Model

PARALLEL

Primary Study Purpose

PREVENTION

Blinding Strategy

NONE

Study Groups

Review each arm or cohort in the study, along with the interventions and objectives associated with them.

Unconditional cash transfers

Monthly cash transfers given to households with school aged girls with no strings attached. Transfer amounts randomized within this arm.

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

Zomba Cash Transfer Program

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Cash transfers were provided monthly to a randomly selected sample of school aged girls. Amounts were also varied in both treatment arms.

Conditional Cash Transfer

Monthly cash transfers given to households with school aged girls conditional on regular school attendance (80%). Transfer amounts randomized within this arm.

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

Zomba Cash Transfer Program

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Cash transfers were provided monthly to a randomly selected sample of school aged girls. Amounts were also varied in both treatment arms.

Control Group

No cash transfer program implemented in this group.

Group Type NO_INTERVENTION

No interventions assigned to this group

Interventions

Learn about the drugs, procedures, or behavioral strategies being tested and how they are applied within this trial.

Zomba Cash Transfer Program

Cash transfers were provided monthly to a randomly selected sample of school aged girls. Amounts were also varied in both treatment arms.

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

Check the participation requirements, including inclusion and exclusion rules, age limits, and whether healthy volunteers are accepted.

Inclusion Criteria

* female
* 13-22 years old
* never married
Minimum Eligible Age

13 Years

Maximum Eligible Age

22 Years

Eligible Sex

FEMALE

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Sponsors

Meet the organizations funding or collaborating on the study and learn about their roles.

World Bank

OTHER

Sponsor Role collaborator

University of California, San Diego

OTHER

Sponsor Role collaborator

University of Malawi

OTHER

Sponsor Role collaborator

George Washington University

OTHER

Sponsor Role lead

Responsible Party

Identify the individual or organization who holds primary responsibility for the study information submitted to regulators.

Sarah Baird

Assistant Professor

Responsibility Role PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

Learn about the lead researchers overseeing the trial and their institutional affiliations.

Berk Ozler, PhD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

World Bank

Craig T McIntosh, PhD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

University of California, San Diego

Sarah J Baird, PhD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

George Washington University

Ephraim Chirwa, PhD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

University of Malawi

Richard S Garfein, PhD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

University of California, San Diego

Locations

Explore where the study is taking place and check the recruitment status at each participating site.

Zomba District, Malawi

Zomba, , Malawi

Site Status

Countries

Review the countries where the study has at least one active or historical site.

Malawi

References

Explore related publications, articles, or registry entries linked to this study.

Baird S, Chirwa E, McIntosh C, Ozler B. The short-term impacts of a schooling conditional cash transfer program on the sexual behavior of young women. Health Econ. 2010 Sep;19 Suppl:55-68. doi: 10.1002/hec.1569.

Reference Type RESULT
PMID: 19946887 (View on PubMed)

Baird SJ, Garfein RS, McIntosh CT, Ozler B. Effect of a cash transfer programme for schooling on prevalence of HIV and herpes simplex type 2 in Malawi: a cluster randomised trial. Lancet. 2012 Apr 7;379(9823):1320-9. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(11)61709-1. Epub 2012 Feb 15.

Reference Type DERIVED
PMID: 22341825 (View on PubMed)

Other Identifiers

Review additional registry numbers or institutional identifiers associated with this trial.

RSB: RF-P109215-RESE-BBRSB

Identifier Type: OTHER_GRANT

Identifier Source: secondary_id

KCP: RF-P109215-RESE-TF090932

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id

More Related Trials

Additional clinical trials that may be relevant based on similarity analysis.

Motivation Matters Study
NCT02627365 COMPLETED NA
Healthy Teen Girls: HIV Risk Reduction
NCT00787696 COMPLETED PHASE1/PHASE2