ASPIRES Evidence Brief Series: Unconditional Cash Transfers and HIV Outcomes

This brief focuses on the evidence linking unconditional cash transfers (UCTs) to HIV outcomes. A common form of social protection, UCTs provide basic consumption support to stabilize vulnerable individuals or households. UCTs generally aim to increase access to food or social services such as education and may be used with the aim of indirectly influencing behaviors by increasing household income. They are distinct from conditional cash transfers, which require participants to achieve certain specified behaviors. UCTs are less complex to administer because they do not require monitoring recipients to ensure they adhere to conditions, so they are often favored in large-scale government social protection programs.