Health services, intersectoriality and social control: a comparative study on a conditional income transfer program

Abstract

The Bolsa Família Program (BFP) is one of the largest conditional cash transfer programs in the world, providing cash transfers and intersectoral actions. The aim of this study was to compare whether there is a difference in access to health services, intersectoral actions and social control, between families entitled or not, to the BFP. A cross-sectional study was carried out. A representative sample of a peripheral, socioeconomically vulnerable population from a large urban center in southeastern Brazil was calculated, totaling 380 families. Chi-square or Fisher’s exact tests and multiple correspondence analysis were used to compare groups. Families entitled to the BFP had worse living conditions in general and greater access to health services, such as: medical care ( p-value 0.009), community healthcare agent ( p-value 0.001) and home visits ( p-value 0.041). Being entitled or not affected the variability in the pattern of access to services by 31%; low access to intersectoral actions was identified in both groups; social control was incipient. There was an adequate focus on the program; greater access to health services was related to compliance with conditionalities; low access to intersectoral actions can restrict the interruption of the cycle of intergenerational transmission of poverty.