Economic effects of improved healthcare in small ruminants: A randomized controlled trial evaluating the impact of deworming goats in Munger

Last registered on July 24, 2019

Pre-Trial

General Information

Title

RCT ID

AEARCTR-0004202

Initial registration date

July 23, 2019

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published

July 24, 2019, 11:46 AM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Locations

Country

India

Region

Bihar

Primary Investigator

Name

Muzna Alvi

Affiliation

International Food Policy Research Institute

Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name

Avinash Kishore

PI Affiliation

International food Policy Research Institute

Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status

On going

Start date

2019-05-06

End date

2019-11-30

Keywords

Agriculture, Other

Additional Keywords

livestock, deworming, social networks

JEL code(s)

Secondary IDs

Abstract

This study employs a randomized controlled trial to evaluate the economic impacts of deworming goats in India. The primary research question is: if cost effective healthcare practices like deworming have a positive impact on goat health, to what extent do we see an improvement in economic outcomes for goat keepers? We explore this research question in the context of predominantly tribal goat owners in Munger, Bihar (India), for whom livestock is the primary source of income. Subsequently, we hope to analyse if research-based evidence can incentivize higher adoption of the deworming pills in the treated households as well as in their social networks.

External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation

Alvi, Muzna and Avinash Kishore. 2019. "Economic effects of improved healthcare in small ruminants: A randomized controlled trial evaluating the impact of deworming goats in Munger." AEA RCT Registry. July 24. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.4202-1.0

Former Citation

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)

At the outset, the intervention includes a course of deworming medication and basic information regarding the deworming treatment. The first deworming pill will be given to treatment goats a few days after the baseline survey is conducted and the dosage will be based on each individual goat’s weight and will be administered orally by the enumerator after consent from the farmer. At this time, goat keepers will be given basic information about deworming. A second round dose of deworming will be administered to treatment goats three months after the first dose. Three months following the second dose, all goat keepers (irrespective of treatment status) will be given the opportunity to purchase deworming pills to continue the course of medication.

Intervention Start Date

2019-05-06

Intervention End Date

2019-11-30

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)

Goat body weight, body condition score (BCS), sale price, goat morbidity, social network, willingness to pay for deworming

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Goat body weight: measured by enumerators using a weighing scale
Body condition score (BCS): measured by enumerators trained by a vet on how to conduct a physical examination of the goat and ascribe a score
Sale price: self-reported/documented by goat keepers in a goat diary designed by the research team
Goat morbidity: self-reported/documented by goat keepers in a goat diary designed by the research team
Social network: measured using a social network module that consists of a photo-book of all survey respondents in a given village
Willingness to pay for deworming: measured using a binding Becker–DeGroot–Marschak (BDM) auction at endline

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)

Fertility rates in female goats, deviation range of farmer reported weight/age of goat from actual, healthcare practices (preventive and curative)

Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Fertility Rates: Comparing probability of getting pregnant across rounds of the experiment between Treated and Placebo female goats
Deviation Range: We ask the farmers their estimate of a goat's given weight and age, and compare it to the measured values to score farmers on awareness (which plays a role in sale activities )
Healthcare practices: Take up of vaccination, deworming; consulting doctors/paravets/medical stores when goat gets sick, expenditure on medicines.

Experimental Design

The study will span 40 villages across two blocks (Dharhara and Kharagpur) in Munger district, Bihar. A random sample of 800 households is drawn from the population of goat rearing households in the selected village. Of these 800 households, 75% are randomly allocated to the treatment group and 25% to the Control/Spillover group. Half the goats in the treatment households are then randomly allocated to receive a course of deworming medication and the rest serve as control goats and are given placebo pills. The farmer is not made aware of which goats are receiving deworming medicine and which are receiving placebo. None of the goats from control households receive any deworming pills. At end-line, after two doses of deworming medication, the treatment and spillover goat keepers have the option to purchase deworming pills. Treatment and spillover households are randomly assigned to one of two groups at endline - "information before" and "information after". The "information before" group is given detailed information about the health of goats that were dewormed and those that were not prior to undergoing a BDM price auction. The "information after" group is given detailed information about the health of goats that were dewormed and those that were not after undergoing a BDM price auction. The BDM price auction will measure the respondents willingness to pay for deworming pills.

Experimental Design Details

Randomization Method

Randomization done in office by a computer

Randomization Unit

Two levels of randomization-
Households are randomized to be included in the treatment group or control/spillover group.
Half the goats in treatment households are randomized to receive deworming medicine and control goats receive a placebo.

Was the treatment clustered?

Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters

800 households

Sample size: planned number of observations

2800 goats

Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms

1400 treatment and 1400 control goats

Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)

- The SD of the mean weight is 4.8 - The treatment effect is 1.186-0.611= 0.575 for 28 days (the smaller effect) - Effect size = 0.575/4.8= 0.12 - The treatment effect is 2.846-1.410= 1.436 for 56 days (the larger effect) - Effect size= 1.436/4.8 =0.30 NON-CLUSTERED Sample size for smaller effect at a power of 80%= 2190 goats Sample size for larger effect at a power of 80% is roughly 350 goats CLUSTERED: Using varying cluster sizes, and varying ICCs, the number of clusters, given power of 80%, for the small and large effect size are as follows: Small effect: 580 clusters Large effect: 100 clusters

Supporting Documents and Materials

IRB