A paper in Health Affairs titled Brazil's Conditional Cash Transfer Program Associated With Declines In Infant Mortality Rates describes Brazil's Bolsa Família conditional cash transfer program, an example of recent actions by the Brazilian government to reduce poverty and inequality and increase access to health care among its poorer residents.
The program provides monthly cash transfers to parents, usually the mothers, to finance health care. Participants are required to comply with health guidelines and education guidelines, such as school enrollment, abiding by a vaccination schedule, and regular medical check-ups.
The program has expanded rapidly: when it began in 2003, 3.6 million families were covered; by 2008, that number had increased to 11.4 million.
In the study, the scholars found that the average treatment effect of the program was a 9.3 percent decline in infant mortality rates and a 24.3 percent decline in post neonatal mortality rates.