Giving women a cash payment just before they give birth could halve infant mortality rates and provide a cost-effective way of saving lives in the face of shrinking aid budgets, a study in Kenya has suggested.
Households across 653 villages that were given a one-off, no-strings-attached payment of $1,000 dollars (£740) around the time of birth had 48 per cent fewer children die before the age of one and 45 per cent fewer die before the age of five.
