Participants in Kenya’s grant program for poor orphans and other vulnerable children start having sex later, and they have sex less often, than their peers outside the program, according to a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill study reported by aidsmap. The program awards a $20 monthly stipend to each of 350,000 participants in 120,000 households. Children involved in the program were 30 percent less likely to start having sex during the period covered by the study (2007 to 2011). Participants were no more likely to use condoms the first time they had sex. Nonetheless, by reducing early sexual activity, the program has the potential to slow the spread of HIV—as do other unconditional cash transfer programs throughout Africa.

To read the aidsmap article, click here.