Integrating youth mental health into cash transfer programmes in response to the COVID-19 crisis in low-income and middle-income countries
Authored by the CHANCES-6 research team, The Lancet Psychiatry, 2021.
The CHANCES-6 project is led by the Care Policy and Evaluation Centre and covers Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, South Africa, Liberia, and Malawi.
Young people living in poverty and with mental health problems in LMICs are at particular risk of experiencing adverse health, wellbeing, and employment outcomes with long-term consequences. They are also at risk of developing mental health conditions during this pandemic. To support this population, cash transfer programmes should not only address urgent needs around food security and survival but expand their focus to address longer-term mental health impacts of pandemics and economic crises. Such an approach could help support young people's future life chances and break the vicious cycle between mental illness and poverty that spirals many young people into both socioeconomic and mental health disadvantage.