Assessing the Elimination of User Fees for Delivery Services in Laos

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0089784

Publication:
Assessing the Elimination of User Fees for Delivery Services in Laos

dc.contributor.author	Boudreaux, Chantelle
dc.contributor.author	Chanthala, Phetdara
dc.contributor.author	Lindelow, Magnus
dc.date.accessioned	2015-12-03T19:52:23Z
dc.date.available	2015-12-03T19:52:23Z
dc.date.issued	2014-03-14
dc.description.abstract	A pilot eliminating user fees associated with delivery at the point of services was introduced in two districts of Laos in March 2009. Following two years of implementation, an evaluation was conducted to assess the pilot impact, as well as to document the pilot design and implementation challenges. Study results show that, even in the presence of the substantial access and cultural barriers, user fees associated with delivery at health facilities act as a serious deterrent to care seeking behavior. We find a tripling of facility-based delivery rates in the intervention areas, compared to a 40% increase in the control areas. While findings from the control region suggest that facility-based delivery rates may be on the rise across the country, the substantially higher increase in the pilot areas highlight the impact of financial burden associated with facility-based delivery fees. These fees can play an important role in rapidly increasing the uptake of facility delivery to reach the national targets and, ultimately, to improve maternal and child health outcomes. The pilot achieved important gains while relying heavily on capacity and systems already in place. However, the high cost associated with monitoring and evaluation suggest broad-scale expansion of the pilot activities is likely to necessitate targeted capacity building initiatives, especially in areas with limited district level capacity to manage funds and deliver detailed and timely reports.	en
dc.identifier.citation	PLoS ONE
dc.identifier.doi	10.1596/23200
dc.identifier.uri	https://hdl.handle.net/10986/23200
dc.language.iso	en_US
dc.publisher	Public Library of Science
dc.rights	CC BY 3.0 IGO
dc.rights.holder	World Bank
dc.rights.uri	http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo
dc.subject	maternal mortality
dc.subject	healthcare delivery
dc.subject	Millennium Development Goals
dc.subject	MDGs
dc.title	Assessing the Elimination of User Fees for Delivery Services in Laos	en
dc.type	Journal Article	en
dc.type	Article de journal	fr
dc.type	Artículo de revista	es
dspace.entity.type	Publication
okr.date.disclosure	2015-12-03
okr.date.doiregistration	2025-05-06T11:11:03.237183Z
okr.doctype	Publications & Research::Journal Article
okr.doctype	Publications & Research
okr.externalcontent	External Content
okr.guid	528091468196130170
okr.identifier.doi	10.1371/journal.pone.0089784
okr.identifier.report	102433
okr.journal.nbpages	e89784
okr.language.supported	en
okr.peerreview	Academic Peer Review
okr.region.country	Lao People's Democratic Republic
okr.relation.associatedurl	http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0089784
okr.topic	Health, Nutrition and Population::Health Service Management and Delivery
okr.unit	Human Development Sector
okr.volume	9(3)
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relation.isAuthorOfPublication.latestForDiscovery	d6df2a53-bb3c-5376-8494-5d7b3af636f6