MIT Grad Student Helps 190K Filipino Families Fight Malnutrition

Lyonel Tanganco saw a problem that millions of middle-income families face: economic growth happening all around them while their children still lacked basic healthcare. So he designed a solution so simple it almost seemed too easy.

The Filipino economist helped create a conditional cash transfer program that gives families $12 per month if they bring their children for regular health checkups. That small incentive increased health-seeking behavior eightfold and now supports more than 190,000 Filipino households fighting malnutrition.

Before arriving at MIT's Master in Data, Economics, and Design of Policy program, Tanganco was already making waves in his home country. As director of the Policy, Research, and Liaison Office in the Philippine Department of Finance, he helped increase taxes on cigarettes, vaping, and alcohol products. That move funded a sixfold increase in the national healthcare budget.

But Tanganco knew that more money alone wouldn't solve the problem. "I wanted a graduate program that taught me what I couldn't get from a professional career," he says. He needed to understand not just how to fund programs, but how to design ones that actually changed behavior.

His approach worked because it recognized a truth about poverty: parents want to help their children, but sometimes small barriers like transportation costs or lost work time prevent them from seeking care. Removing those barriers with modest financial support created dramatic results.

Now at MIT, Tanganco is expanding his research to Indonesia, working with local governments on tax interventions that could improve service delivery across the region. He's investigating how middle-income countries can translate their economic growth into better lives for their most vulnerable citizens.

The Ripple Effect

The success of Tanganco's nutrition program shows how evidence-based policy can scale quickly when designed right. What started as an idea is now reaching hundreds of thousands of families, with potential to expand across Southeast Asia and beyond.

His work with the Malusog at Matalinong Bata Coalition (Smart and Healthy Kids Coalition) demonstrates that closing the gap between gleaming metropolitan skylines and underserved communities doesn't require revolutionary new ideas. Sometimes it just requires smart design, solid data, and $12 per month.

The MIT program, run jointly by the Department of Economics and the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab, trains development professionals to do exactly this kind of work. They're equipping people like Tanganco with tools to ensure policies are informed by scientific evidence rather than assumptions.

For Tanganco, the mission is personal: turning the contradiction of living in a middle-income country into an opportunity for inclusive growth that leaves no child behind.