Comparing the effectiveness of food baskets and cash transfers to support pregnant and lactating mothers in needy suffering from malnutrition in Iran

The nutritional support program for malnourished pregnant and lactating mothers has been implemented to improve the health of both pregnant women and their infants and reduce their mortality rates. The aim of this retrospective field trial was to compare the effects of the food basket program and the cash transfer program to support pregnant and lactating mothers in needy suffering from malnutrition in Iran. The participants recruited from health centers were divided into 4 groups: food basket (n = 241), cash transfer (n = 213), eligible non-supported (n = 438), and non-needy control (n = 439). Information collected includes age, body mass index before pregnancy, mother's weight gain and hemoglobin in the 4th and 8th months, the infants' weight and head circumference at birth, and the weighing trend. The pre-pregnancy weight of the non-needy control group was significantly higher (p < 0.001). The average hemoglobin was significantly decreased in all 4 groups in the 8th month of pregnancy (p < 0.001). The weight gain of mothers improved significantly from the fourth to the eighth month of pregnancy in the food basket group (p < 0.001). The weight of infants in the eligible unsupported group at 2 and 4 months was significantly lower and in the cash transfer group was more than the food basket group (p < 0.001). It seems that the cash transfer method is more effective on weighing infants during the first 4 months after birth than the food basket approach, while the food basket had a more significant effect on the weight gain of mothers during pregnancy.