Despite expanding access to sanitary options such as community toilets, many individuals, especially in urban slums, continue to practice open defecation. One potential explanation is that open defecation has become an ingrained habit. Applying lessons from psychology and neuroscience, researchers are evaluating whether a combination of economic incentives and a marketing campaign can foster a new habit—using hygienic latrines instead defecating in the open—among slum dwellers in Kenya.

In India, researchers will evaluate the impact of financial incentives, information, and reminders on treatment regimen compliance among patients of a healthcare provider in the slums of Mumbai.

Researchers partnered with Partners in Health (PIH) to conduct a randomized evaluation to test the impact of monthly coupons and different CHW delivery methods on chlorine usage and child health outcomes in Southern Malawi. They find that the coupon program had stronger impacts on both outcomes and was more cost-effective than having CHWs distribute free chlorine to households during routine monthly visits.

In Bangladesh, researchers evaluated the impact of different selling schemes on demand for water testing, and the impact of test results on switching to a safer well. Although group test sales and well safety placards increased substantially the likelihood that households switched to a possibly safer well, demand for testing was very low.

Diarrhea is a leading cause of death in children under the age of 5, but adding small amounts of chlorine into water can treat water and prevent a large number of these deaths. Providing free dispensers for chlorine to treat water reduced under-five mortality. Children living in villages with dilute chlorine solution dispensers were 63 percent less likely to die relative to the comparison group.

Researchers partnered with five job centers to test whether health counseling targeted at youth increased insurance coverage and health care use, leading to better health and employment outcomes. Encouraging youth to meet with a social worker and with a physician increased enrollment in the public universal health insurance, but did not significantly affect youth’s understanding of their rights and of the insurance reimbursement procedures. The program almost doubled the number of youth that consulted a psychologist and increased the time spent participating in vocational training programs.

In this randomized evaluation, researchers partnered with Planned Parenthood of Michigan to give vouchers for contraception to evaluate the impact of contraceptive costs on method choice. Those who received the vouchers were more likely to buy contraceptives and buy more expensive methods than those who did not receive vouchers. They also chose longer-lasting and more effective methods