Findings from a study carried out by World Bank in Tanzania and Malawi says, there was a decrease in the number of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in girls who were given small amount of money as incentives.

According to a research report to be released on Monday, a total of 2,399 men and women between the ages of 18 and 30 in rural Tanzania, were paid $20 every four months if they tested negative for a series of diseases cut infections by one quarter. The girls also received counselling on safe sex and condom use. A second study that paid 3,796 Malawian girls $4 to $10 a month if they remained in school – rather than dropping out for reasons including pregnancy – cut HIV by 60 per cent over 18 months to 1.2 per cent, compared with 3 per cent in those not paid.

Poverty is an underlying factor in the spread of HIV in the developing world. Girls are the group most at risk of the virus. Some form relationships with older men – more likely to be infected with HIV than boys of their own age – for financial support. At the start of the study, 25% of sexually active girls said they started relationships because they needed or wanted money. Thus, giving these girls in poor countries regular cash payments can help them avoid inappropriate sexual relationships with older and wealthier men, a new approach that could see a decrease in the rate of HIV/AIDS infections.

This conditional cash transfer in line with different social policies, is expected to change human behavior and help in preventing the spread of HIV and other STIs.

David Wilson, the director of the bank's global HIV/Aids programme, said financial incentives may offer a way to help young people help themselves. "These two studies show the potential for using cash payments to prevent people, especially women and girls, from engaging in unsafe sex while also ensuring that they stay in school and get the full benefits of an education," he said.

Michel Kazatchkine, head of the Global Fund to fight Aids, TB and malaria, which channels donor money around the world, said it would require at least $17bn in the next three years to maintain targets to eliminate malaria deaths and to save millions of people in need of HIV treatment and tens of millions from infection with prevention programmes.

References/Credit for this article: Financial Times and The Guardian