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Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated struggles for youth living in poor households. Youth in rural Tanzania are particularly vulnerable given widespread poverty, lack of formal sector employment opportunities, and health risks. We examine influences of the pandemic on economic insecurity and mental health and explore the coping strategies employed by youth and their households. Methods: We conducted mixed-method data collection with youth (N = 760 quantitative and N = 44 qualitative interviews) and households (n = 542) via mobile phone among a sub-set of a cohort from an on-going longitudinal sample in two rural regions in Tanzania. In addition to phone interviews, we collected data bi-weekly via SMS messaging. We present mixed-methods, descriptive analysis of the outcomes and longitudinally compare quantitative outcomes pre- and post-COVID-19, within the same individuals. Results: Adverse economic impacts were most salient, and to cope, youth engaged in more labor and domestic chores. Compared to prior the COVID-19 pandemic, youth reported spending more time caring for elderly or sick household members and gathering firewood or nuts. Conclusions: These findings underscore the potential opportunity to promote policies and programs which address risks youth face. Recommended measures include expansion and adaptation of social protection policies, strengthened food and nutrition surveillance and referral systems, and scaling up community-based mental health programming.

Background: Climate change threatens youth mental health through multiple mechanisms, yet empirical studies typically focus on single pathways. We explored feelings of distress over climate change among Tanzanian youth, considering associations with climate change awareness and climate-sensitive risk factors, and assessed how these factors relate to mental health. Methods: Tanzanian youth (aged 18–23 years) from a cluster randomised controlled trial in Mbeya and Iringa regions of Tanzania were interviewed between Jan 25, and March 3, 2021, and included in this cross-sectional study. A threshold of at least 10 on the ten-item Centre for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale was used to classify symptom severity indicative of depression. Regardless of climate change awareness, respondents were asked about their feelings of distress on climate change using inclusive language (changing weather patterns or changing seasons). We estimated rate differences in climate change distress (slight or moderate or extreme vs none) by youth characteristics, extent of climate awareness, and climate-sensitive livelihoods (eg, agriculture, tending livestock) and climate-sensitive living conditions (eg, food or water insecurity), using generalised linear models. We compared depression prevalence by extent of climate change distress and climate-sensitive living conditions.Findings: Among 2053 youth (1123 [55%] were male and 930 [45%] were female) included in this analysis, 946 (46%) had reported any distress about climate change. Distress was higher among female, more educated, more religious, older youth, and those working in extreme temperatures. Adjusting for climate awareness—a factor strongly associated with climate distress—helped to explain some of these associations. Depression was 23 percentage points (95% CI 17–28) higher among youth who had severe water insecurity than those who did not. Similarly, youth who had sev

Poverty and poor mental health are closely linked. Cash transfers have significantly expanded globally. Given their objectives around poverty reduction and improving food security, a major chronic stressor in Africa, cash transfers may affect mental health outcomes. We examine impacts of three large-scale government cash transfer or cash plus programs in Ghana, Malawi, and Tanzania on self-perceived stress using an innovative, newly adapted measure for rural African settings. Linear regression models were used to estimate treatment impacts. We find that cash transfers reduced self-perceived stress in Malawi, but programs in Ghana and Tanzania had no impacts on self-perceived stress. These mixed findings, combined with recent reviews on cash transfers and mental health, suggest that cash transfers may play a role in improving mental health. However, cash alone may not be sufficient to overcome many challenges related to poverty, and complementary programming may also be needed to improve mental health.

PR, IFPRI3; Cash Transfer and Intimate Partner Violence Research Collaborative; G Cross-cutting gender theme; DCA, Poverty, Gender, and Inclusion (PGI); Food and Nutrition Policy, Evidence indicates that cash transfers can decrease intimate partner violence (IPV) against women, although most research has focused on women's perspectives and experiences, with less attention to men. We analyzed data from four focus group discussions with male partners of women who participated in the Ghana Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) 1000 cash transfer program. We elicited men's perceptions of poverty, relationship dynamics, IPV and cash transfers targeted to their wives using thematic analysis. Men largely viewed the effects of the cash transfer as positive – they felt decreased provider role strain when women used the cash to cover household expenses such as food and school fees. Men also indicated that they felt respected when women used the cash to cover sudden expenses, such as funeral costs, thus preventing the need to borrow from community members and exposing their inability to fulfill provider roles. These feelings of relief and respect helped improve men's overall wellbeing, their marital relationships and reduced the potential for IPV. Despite these positive results, men revealed that they still expected to be informed and consulted about the transfer and its expenditure, and felt disrespected when women did not do so, thus heightening the potential for household conflict. Further research and innovation in programming is needed to integrate gender transformative strategies into cash transfer programs, explicitly aimed at changing gender norms to enhance and sustain beneficial impacts on gender relations and IPV.