ABSTRACT
Social protection programs (SPPs) are commonly used in South Asia to address inequities in meeting basic needs. Provision of both SPP benefits and essential health/nutrition interventions to mothers and children is a goal toward optimal health and development outcomes, but co-coverage of SPPs and health/nutrition interventions among beneficiary households is poorly described. Using six population-based surveys in Bangladesh, India, and Nepal (n = 253,703 women with children under 5 years of age), we examined data availability for SPPs (food and cash transfers) and health/nutrition interventions, and estimated their coverage and co-coverage during a woman’s last pregnancy (interventions: take-home food rations plus at least four antenatal care visits, receipt of iron-folic acid tablets, deworming, and tetanus injections), after delivery (cash benefit plus the interventions above), and in children (take-home ration for the child plus vitamin A supplementation, deworming, iron syrup, growth monitoring, and nutrition counseling). In India, 52% and 51% of women and children, respectively, received food transfers, but only 3% and 8% received food plus all health/nutrition interventions. In India and Nepal, respectively, cash after delivery was received by 41% and 86% of women, but only 4% and 22% received cash after delivery plus all health/nutrition interventions. There were insufficient data to estimate co-coverage in Bangladesh, which only had data on cash/food transfers but not on health/nutrition interventions. Our findings highlight the need for data on both SPP and health/nutrition intervention coverage in household surveys to be able to estimate co-coverage. Estimates of co-coverage help identify missed opportunities to reach women and children with interventions across multiple sectors.
Maternal &Child Nutrition, Volume 22, Issue 3, July 2026. Read More