User fees are a known common barrier to using health services, particularly among the poor. When fees are present, many facilities have waiver systems for poor patients to exempt them from paying. Targeting waivers to patients who need them most has been a challenge, especially in fragile states, where relevant data are limited and trust in institutions is low. An analysis of the asset index of beneficiaries indicated that although targeting was progressive, significant leakage and high levels of under-coverage occurred; 42% of cards were used by people in the wealthiest three quintiles, and only 19% of people in the poorest quintile received a card. Households with waiver cards reported higher rates of care-seeking for recent illnesses compared to those without cards (p = 0.02).
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Despite recent achievement in economic progress in India, the fruit of development has failed to secure a better nutritional status among all children of the country. Growing evidence suggest there exists a socioeconomic gradient of childhood malnutrition in India. The present paper is an attempt to measure the extent of socio-economic inequality in chronic childhood malnutrition across major states of India and to realize the role of household socio-economic status (SES) as the contextual determinant of nutritional status of children.
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The objectives of this working papers are studying the differentials of health service availability and uptake of services particularly for women's health needs related to out-patient care and institutional childbirth. Understanding their various predictors, along with the issues related to geographical accessibility, in the context of the Sundarbans.
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We reviewed existing literature on private sector initiatives that have shown effectiveness in improving maternal and neonatal health. The private sector constitutes a significant proportion of delivery services for women in developing countries and it also plays a key role in family planning, abortion, nutrition, and antenatal care. We primarily address maternal health outcomes and include interventions that improve neonatal health outcomes where they are included in the study design or interventional strategy alongside maternal outcomes. We do not review evidence that addresses neonatal outcomes alone, as this would go beyond the scope of this paper.
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The objective of this article is to examine historical estimates of infant and under-five mortality in Afghanistan, provide estimates for rural areas from current population-based data, and discuss the methodological challenges that undermine data quality and hinder retrospective estimations of mortality.
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The objective of this empirical study was to understand the perspectives and attitudes of policy-makers towards the use and impact of research in the health sector in low- and middle-income countries.
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Uganda implemented health sector reforms to make services more accessible to the population. An assessment of the likely impact of these reforms is important for informing policy. This paper describes the changes in utilization of health services that occurred among the poor and those in rural areas between 2002/3 and 2005/6 and associated factors.
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Future Health Systems: Innovations for Equity (FHS) is working in six partner countries in Asia and Africa, focusing on strengthening the research–policy interface in relation to specific health system research projects. These projects present an opportunity to study the influence of stakeholders on research and policy processes.
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spite the high prevalence of postpartum morbidity and the danger of maternal mortality, women in low-resource settings such as rural India frequently fail to seek care from formal health providers. Understanding the factors that influence care-seeking behavior for postpartum health problems in India is vital to setting program priorities and designing appropriate interventions. Our study sought to elucidate these factors in the rural district of Murshidabad, India.
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The present paper is an attempt to measure the extent of socio-economic inequality in chronic childhood malnutrition across major states of India and to realize the role of household socio-economic status (SES) as the contextual determinant of nutritional status of children.
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This document presents the key results of a recent research on the health care system of the Indian Sundarbans conducted by Institute of Health Management Research (IIHMR) in West Bengal, India
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This presentation by Ligia Paina & David Peters was given as part of a Future Health System Consortium session at the Global Symposium on Health Systems Research. It is part of our Beyond Scaling Up stream of work.
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