Vouchers have been cited as a promising alternative to the existing health finance mechanisms meant to achieve a variety of goals in health systems including reproductive health services. Little is however still known on [...]]]> The Population Reference Bureau will on Tuesday, January 18th, at 1.00pm (EST) host an online discussion on Health Voucher Programs Impact & Efficiency.

Vouchers have been cited as a promising alternative to the existing health finance mechanisms meant to achieve a variety of goals in health systems including reproductive health services. Little is however still known on the full impact of the voucher programs in improving equity and health status on general populations. Questions are still largely unanswered on voucher governance structures, implication on scaling, how to overcome fraud and poor information systems challenges, coverage and access to the poor and the impact of provider competition on quality.

Join Ben Bellows, an associate with the Population Council and co-author of “The Use of Vouchers for Reproductive Health Services in Developing Countries: Systematic Review,” as he answers your questions about reproductive health voucher program design and performance. Bellows and co-authors reviewed the literature on vouchers to identify reproductive health programs and to determine the extent to which these programs have been evaluated. Findings were generally positive, but much remains unknown about program operations.

You can register and post your pre-discussion questions here.

The online interactive tool’s [...]]]> The World Bank’s Global Partnership on Output-Based Aid (GPOBA) will on Tuesday, January 25th officially launch a new interactive online database tool, “OBA Data”, that showcases Output-Based Aid (OBA) projects around the world, putting access to comprehensive and in-depth data on the universe of OBA projects at the fingertips of development practitioners worldwide.

The online interactive tool’s key features include advanced searches for easy access to OBA project profiles worldwide, interactive maps for easy identification of OBA projects and custom reports, charts, and tables on project design features and performance.

Speakers at the event to run from 10.30am to 12.00pm at Room I1-200, World Bank Headquarters, Washington, DC, will include Laurence Carter, Director – Public-Private Partnerships, International Finance Corporation and Patricia Veevers-Carter, Program Manager, GPOBA. The presentation will be done by Luisa Mimmi, M&E Specialist, GPOBA.

Interested external participants should contact Constance Polite to RSVP and request a visitor pass or email

Wajiha Ahmed for more information.

Call for abstracts is now open through to January 21st together with [...]]]> The USAID Strengthening Health Outcomes through the Private Sector (SHOPS) in partnership with the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation is organizing an e-Conference on March 29-30, 2011 under the theme ‘expanding access to financial services for health care providers’.

Call for abstracts is now open through to January 21st together with presentations that highlight innovations and best practices in the use of financial services, including debt, equity, or leasing to improve access to high-quality health services, products, and information. The conference welcomes abstracts that address various areas of health care, including prevention or treatment, and delivery of primary or specialist services and products. There is also opportunity to share  initiatives that improve the ability of health care organizations to access and manage financing.

Priority will however be given to submissions that demonstrate innovation and viability, and have evaluation results to share.  Abstracts are limited to 450 words and should include the proposed session’s learning objectives, applicant’s organization’s description and partners, and key innovations and lessons.

For more information please follow the conference link to review detailed guidelines and complete your submission.

WHO-World Health Report urges efficient utilization of prepaid & pooled resources in a bid to achieve universal coverage and suggests vouchers as an alternative strategy to improve this coverage, but as of yet, little is known about voucher program impact, as noted in a Council literature review published in October. More systematic reviews [...]]]>

WHO-World Health Report urges efficient utilization of prepaid & pooled resources in a bid to achieve universal coverage and suggests vouchers as an alternative strategy to improve this coverage, but as of yet, little is known about voucher program impact, as noted in a Council literature review published in October. More systematic reviews are expected soon as DfID funded studies on health voucher and demand side health sector interventions are completed.

The World Health Organization (WHO) recently released the annual Global Health Report, “Health Systems Financing: the Path to Universal Coverage” urging a gradual shift from direct payments to prepayment and pooling of resources in the path towards achieving universal coverage. The report released in the backdrop of the First Global Symposium on Health Systems Research admits, however, that this move alone cannot guarantee access to care.

In outlining additional financial barriers to households’ access to health care that include transport costs and other cultural impediments the report rules out free government health services as the panacea to increasing access. Based on previous study of 39 low-and lower-middle income countries, more than half of the total out-of-pocket costs of outpatient costs are spent on private facilities.

Transport costs and other direct payments are singled out as significant impediments to households receiving timely care even in settings where there are no or limited user fees. The report suggests several ways to overcome the extra financial barriers including investment in primary care, ensuring inexpensive and easy access to services and instituting gradual reforms such as the use of vouchers or conditional cash transfers (CCTs).

Citing examples from Latin America (Brazil, Colombia, Honduras, Mexico and Nicaragua) where CCTs have posted successes in improving child health and reducing infant mortality, the report cautions that CCTs and voucher schemes only work better if they are more meaningfully targeted adding that they face greater cost and inefficiency risks such as leakage to non-poor targets. Although limited or poor quality service may reduce their usefulness in low-income settings, the report acknowledges the role that CCTs and voucher schemes have to play in health financing as strong short term options in areas with substantial barriers to access.

See chapter on barriers to access

More about the report

The World Bank’s Health, Nutrition and Population (HNP) Program will on Tuesday September 14th, present a glossary publication on various acronyms associated with Results-Based Financing (RBF) as a general term used to describe different health finance incentives and payment arrangements.  Although often labeled differently, Results-Based Financing (RBF) presents the same concept of  increasing the quantity [...]]]>

The World Bank’s Health, Nutrition and Population (HNP) Program will on Tuesday September 14th, present a glossary publication on various acronyms associated with Results-Based Financing (RBF) as a general term used to describe different health finance incentives and payment arrangements.  Although often labeled differently, Results-Based Financing (RBF) presents the same concept of  increasing the quantity and quality of health services using an output  instead of input based approach. It combines the use of incentives for health-related behaviors with a strong focus on results, and can support efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Author Philip Musgrove and other panelists from the World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank and the Global Partnership on Output Based Aid will explain the concepts and significant distinctions among the various types of RBF programs.

The two-hour session kicks off at noon at the World Bank 1 Building in Washington DC.

Reservations are required.

More about RBF

Read the Glossary

More about HNP

You can now download the third issue of the RH Vouchers Quarterly Newsletter or read it here. This issue highlights key discussions from the second technical advisory committee meeting held on June 11, in Washington DC. You will also find an update on the five country programs and a summary profile of the Bangladesh voucher scheme. [...]]]>

You can now download the third issue of the RH Vouchers Quarterly Newsletter or read it here. This issue highlights key discussions from the second technical advisory committee meeting held on June 11, in Washington DC. You will also find an update on the five country programs and a summary profile of the Bangladesh voucher scheme. In the publications section we feature Shakil and Khan’s review of the lessons learnt from the Bangladesh program and the latest annual compendium profiling 40 social franchising programs, about half of which use vouchers to stimulate demand and target subsidies.