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Improving access to reproductive and child health services in developing countries: are competitive voucher schemes an option?

Author

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  • M. R. Bhatia

    (London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK)

  • A. C. Gorter

    (Instituto CentroAmericano de la Salud, Nicaragua)

Abstract

Reducing maternal and child mortality is an important goal of the Millennium declaration and a major concern for policy makers in developing countries. One of the important barriers to reducing maternal mortality is the low utilisation of maternal health services provided by the public health system through it supply side mechanisms. Demand side financing is increasingly being proposed as one of the options to increase access to reproductive and child health services and is generating great interest in a number of developing countries. Demand side financing not only promotes equity through improved access and better targeting of subsidies, but also provides incentives for efficiency and provider choice by involving the private sector. This paper discusses the concept of demand side financing, and analyses its strengths and limitations. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Suggested Citation

  • M. R. Bhatia & A. C. Gorter, 2007. "Improving access to reproductive and child health services in developing countries: are competitive voucher schemes an option?," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 19(7), pages 975-981.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:jintdv:v:19:y:2007:i:7:p:975-981
    DOI: 10.1002/jid.1361
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Gauri, Varun & Vawda, Ayesha, 2003. "Vouchers for basic education in developing countries : a principal-agent perspective," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3005, The World Bank.
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    1. Obare, Francis & Warren, Charlotte & Abuya, Timothy & Askew, Ian & Bellows, Ben, 2014. "Assessing the population-level impact of vouchers on access to health facility delivery for women in Kenya," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 183-189.
    2. Ahmed, Shakil & Khan, M. Mahmud, 2011. "Is demand-side financing equity enhancing? Lessons from a maternal health voucher scheme in Bangladesh," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 72(10), pages 1704-1710, May.
    3. Kuwawenaruwa, August & Ramsey, Kate & Binyaruka, Peter & Baraka, Jitihada & Manzi, Fatuma & Borghi, Josephine, 2019. "Implementation and effectiveness of free health insurance for the poor pregnant women in Tanzania: A mixed methods evaluation," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 225(C), pages 17-25.
    4. Benjamin M Hunter & Sean Harrison & Anayda Portela & Debra Bick, 2017. "The effects of cash transfers and vouchers on the use and quality of maternity care services: A systematic review," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(3), pages 1-37, March.
    5. Nguyen, Ha T.H. & Hatt, Laurel & Islam, Mursaleena & Sloan, Nancy L. & Chowdhury, Jamil & Schmidt, Jean-Olivier & Hossain, Atia & Wang, Hong, 2012. "Encouraging maternal health service utilization: An evaluation of the Bangladesh voucher program," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 74(7), pages 989-996.
    6. Rahman, Mohammad Mahbubur & Pallikadavath, Saseendran, 2018. "How much do conditional cash transfers increase the utilization of maternal and child health care services? New evidence from Janani Suraksha Yojana in India," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 164-183.
    7. Claire Watt & Timothy Abuya & Charlotte E Warren & Francis Obare & Lucy Kanya & Ben Bellows, 2015. "Can Reproductive Health Voucher Programs Improve Quality of Postnatal Care? A Quasi-Experimental Evaluation of Kenya’s Safe Motherhood Voucher Scheme," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(4), pages 1-20, April.

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