IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v29y1989i10p1199-1205.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

User fees for health care in developing countries: A case study of Bangladesh

Author

Listed:
  • Stanton, Bonita
  • Clemens, John

Abstract

In designing country health care programs to achieve the goals of the Alma Alta declaration of 'Health for All', developing countries have been confronted with the problem of increased health care needs and decreased available resources. Health economists have proferred several possible solutions to this fiscal shortfall, including cost-recovery measures through the imposition of user fees for curative services at government health facilities. Health care providers have been noticeably absent from discussions of the many possible implications of these fees; consequently, resultant programs and policies may be economically sound but may fail to place a sufficient emphasis on features designed to maintain and improve the health of the population. In the present paper we examine the possible impact of user fees on the health of individuals residing in Bangladesh, one potential candidate country for user fees. We note evidence that the existing government health care system appears already to be providing care to two of the most medically vulnerable groups in Bangladesh, the poor and women, and provide evidence that such fees may seriously interfere with maintaining this patient profile. We discuss the significant public health role that curative care provides for the individuals, their families and the wider community. We suggest that additional questions should be asked by health care providers, anthropologists and economists prior to institution of user fees in the government system and that such measures should first be introduced in an experimental format with a rigorous and comprehensive impact evaluation.

Suggested Citation

  • Stanton, Bonita & Clemens, John, 1989. "User fees for health care in developing countries: A case study of Bangladesh," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 29(10), pages 1199-1205, January.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:29:y:1989:i:10:p:1199-1205
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0277-9536(89)90363-8
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ardeshir Sepehri & Robert Chernomas, 2001. "Are user charges efficiency- and equity-enhancing? A critical review of economic literature with particular reference to experience from developing countries," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 13(2), pages 183-209.
    2. Johnson, Ari & Goss, Adeline & Beckerman, Jessica & Castro, Arachu, 2012. "Hidden costs: The direct and indirect impact of user fees on access to malaria treatment and primary care in Mali," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 75(10), pages 1786-1792.
    3. B K Paul, 1992. "Health Search Behavior of Parents in Rural Bangladesh: An Empirical Study," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 24(7), pages 963-973, July.
    4. Yu-hwei Tseng & Mujibul Alam Khan, 2015. "Where Do the Poorest Go to Seek Outpatient Care in Bangladesh: Hospitals Run by Government or Microfinance Institutions?," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(3), pages 1-15, March.
    5. Gertler, Paul J. & Hammer, Jeffrey S., 1997. "Strategies for pricing publicly provided health services," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1762, The World Bank.
    6. Jimenez, Emmanuel & DEC, 1994. "Human and physical infrastructure : public investment and pricing policies in developing countries," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1281, The World Bank.
    7. Dyna Arhin-Tenkorang, 2001. "Mobilizing Resources for Health: The Case for User Fees Revisited," CID Working Papers 81, Center for International Development at Harvard University.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:29:y:1989:i:10:p:1199-1205. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.