Twine Rhian, Collinson Mark A, Polzer Tara J, Kahn Kathleen
MRC/Wits Rural Public Health and Transitions Research Unit (Agincourt), School of Public Health, University of Witwatersrand, South Africa.
Scand J Public Health Suppl. 2007 Aug;69:118-27. doi: 10.1080/14034950701430008.
In April 1998, the South African government introduced the child-support grant as a poverty-alleviation measure to support the income of poor households and enable them to care for the child.
This research aimed to measure equity of access to applications for the child-support grant in an area characterized by poverty. Three questions were addressed: (i) How does socioeconomic status affect the probability of a household applying for a child-care grant? (ii) What household and caregiver characteristics are associated with child-care-grant application? (iii) What barriers to access are experienced by households that do not apply for the child-care grant?
The study population of 6,725 households with at least one age-eligible child was drawn from the Agincourt field site, a rural sub-district of South Africa. Data used were obtained from health and demographic surveillance, a child-grant questionnaire, and a household-asset survey. Descriptive cross-tabulations and multivariate logistic regression were used in the analysis.
Although these grants are intended as a pro-poor intervention, the poorest households are less likely to apply for grants than those in higher socioeconomic bands. Households in lower socioeconomic bands experienced barriers in accessing grants; these related to lack of official documentation, education level of the caregiver and household head, and distance from government service offices.
Enhancing access will require improved provision of birth certificates and identity documents, efficient coordination and service provision from a range of rural government offices, and creative methods of communication.
1998年4月，南非政府推出儿童抚养补助金，作为一项扶贫措施，以支持贫困家庭的收入，使其能够照顾孩子。
本研究旨在衡量在一个贫困地区申请儿童抚养补助金的公平性。研究了三个问题：（i）社会经济地位如何影响家庭申请儿童抚养补助金的可能性？（ii）哪些家庭和照料者特征与儿童抚养补助金申请相关？（iii）未申请儿童抚养补助金的家庭在获取方面遇到哪些障碍？
研究人群为来自南非农村次区域阿金库尔实地的6725户至少有一名符合年龄条件儿童的家庭。使用的数据来自健康和人口监测、儿童补助金问卷以及家庭资产调查。分析中使用了描述性交叉表和多变量逻辑回归。
尽管这些补助金旨在作为扶贫干预措施，但最贫困家庭比社会经济水平较高的家庭申请补助金的可能性更小。社会经济水平较低的家庭在获取补助金方面遇到障碍；这些障碍与缺乏官方文件、照料者和户主的教育水平以及与政府服务办公室的距离有关。
要增加获取机会，需要更好地提供出生证明和身份证件，各农村政府办公室进行有效协调并提供服务，以及采用有创意的沟通方式。
