Social assistance programs and under-5 children’s health in Egypt: an empirical investigation

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the association between social assistance programs and health outcomes among under-5 children in Egypt. Design/methodology/approach Using the 2021 Health Survey for Egyptian households, two logistic regressions are estimated to investigate the association between under-5 children’s health outcomes and social assistance programs. Findings According to this study’s findings, cash transfers show no statistically significant association with stunting (Odds Ratio [OR] = 1.13) and a significant negative association with anemia (OR = 0.912), corresponding to 9% lower odds of anemia. In contrast, in-kind transfers exhibit a significant association with lower odds of both stunting (OR = 0.842) and anemia (OR = 0.883), corresponding to 16% and 12% lower odds of stunting and anemia, respectively. Beyond social assistance programs, several child, maternal and household characteristics emerged as significant correlates of stunting and anemia, such as child’s age, birth order and size, breastfeeding status, maternal education, household size, consanguineous marriage, region of residence, antenatal care utilization, nutritional supplementation and maternal anemia. Based on this study’s findings, it is recommended to expand in-kind transfers and enhance their nutritional effectiveness through the provision of micronutrient-rich and fortified blended foods, alongside behavior change communication programs. Furthermore, cash transfer programs should be more closely integrated with maternal and child health and education services to strengthen their association with child well-being. This should be accompanied by geographical targeting of high-risk regions, increasing awareness of the detrimental effects of consanguineous marriage, beneficiary participation in program design and implementation, in addition to establishing robust data and monitoring systems. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first attempt to investigate the association between social assistance programs and health outcomes among under-5 children in Egypt.