Effects of family conversation on health care practices in Ethiopia: a propensity score matched analysis.

BACKGROUND: Maternal and newborn mortality rates in Ethiopia are among the highest in sub-Saharan Africa. The majority of deaths take place during childbirth or within the following 48 h. Therefore, ensuring facility deliveries with emergency obstetric and newborn care services available and immediate postnatal follow-up are key strategies to increase survival. In early 2014, the Family Conversation was implemented in 115 rural districts in Ethiopia, covering about 17 million people. It aimed to reduce maternal and newborn mortality by promoting institutional delivery, early postnatal care and immediate newborn care practices. More than 6000 Health Extension Workers were trained to initiate home-based Family Conversations with pregnant women and key household decision-makers. These conversations included discussions on birth preparedness, postpartum and newborn care needs to engage key household stakeholders in supporting women during their pregnancy, labor and postpartum periods. This paper examines the effects of the Family Conversation strategy on maternal and neonatal care practices. METHODS: We used cross-sectional data from a representative sample of 4684 women with children aged 0-11 months from 115 districts collected between December 2014 and January 2015. We compared intrapartum and newborn care practices related to the most recent childbirth, between those who reported having participated in a Family Conversation during pregnancy, and those who had not. Propensity score matched analysis was used to estimate average treatment effects of the Family Conversation strategy on intrapartum and newborn care practices, including institutional delivery, early postnatal and immediate breastfeeding. RESULTS: About 17% of the respondents reported having had a Family Conversation during their last pregnancy. Average treatment effects of 7, 12, 9 and 16 percentage-points respectively were found for institutional deliveries, early postnatal care, clean cord care and thermal care of the newborn (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: We found evidence that Family Conversation, and specifically the involvement of household members who were major decision-makers, was associated with better intrapartum and newborn care practices. This study adds to the evidence base that involving husbands and mothers-in-law, as well as pregnant women, in behavior change communication interventions could be critical for improving maternal and newborn care and therewith lowering mortality rates.

Effects of a participatory community quality improvement strategy on improving household and provider health care behaviors and practices: a propensity score analysis.

BACKGROUND: Maternal and newborn health care intervention coverage has increased in many low-income countries over the last decade, yet poor quality of care remains a challenge, limiting health gains. The World Health Organization envisions community engagement as a critical component of health care delivery systems to ensure quality services, responsive to community needs. Aligned with this, a Participatory Community Quality Improvement (PCQI) strategy was introduced in Ethiopia, in 14 of 91 rural woredas (districts) where the Last Ten Kilometers Project (L10 K) Platform activities were supporting national Basic Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care (BEmONC) strengthening strategies. This paper examines the effects of the PCQI strategy in improving maternal and newborn care behaviors, and providers' and households' practices. METHODS: PCQI engages communities in identifying barriers to access and quality of services, and developing, implementing and monitoring solutions. Thirty-four intervention kebeles (communities), which included the L10 K Platform, BEmONC, and PCQI, and 82 comparison kebeles, which included the L10 K Platform and BEmONC, were visited in December 2010-January 2011 and again 48 months later. Twelve women with children aged 0 to 11 months were interviewed in each kebele. Propensity score matching was used to estimate the program's average treatment effects (ATEs) on women's care seeking behavior, providers' service provision behavior and households' newborn care practices. RESULTS: The ATEs of PCQI were statistically significant (p < 0.05) for two care seeking behaviors - four or more antenatal care (ANC) visits and institutional deliveries at 14% (95% CI: 6, 21) and 11% (95% CI: 4, 17), respectively - and one service provision behavior - complete ANC at 17% (95% CI: 11, 24). We found no evidence of an effect on remaining outcomes relating to household newborn care practices, and postnatal care performed by the provider. CONCLUSIONS: National BEmONC strengthening and government initiatives to improve access and quality of maternal and newborn health services, together with L10 K Platform activities, appeared to work better for some care practices where communities were engaged in the PCQI strategy. Additional research with more robust measure of impact and cost-effectiveness analysis would be useful to establish effectiveness for a wider set of outcomes.

Correlates of the Women's Development Army strategy implementation strength with household reproductive, maternal, newborn and child healthcare practices: a cross-sectional study in four regions of Ethiopia.

BACKGROUND: To address the shortfall in human resources for health, Ethiopia launched the Health Extension Program (HEP) in 2004, establishing a health post with two female health extension workers (HEWs) in every kebele (community). In 2011, the Women's Development Army (WDA) strategy was added, using networks of neighboring women to increase the efficiency of HEWs in reaching every household, with one WDA team leader for every 30 households. Through the strategy, women in the community, in partnership with HEWs, share and learn about health practices and empower one another. This study assessed the association between the WDA strategy implementation strength and household reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health care behaviors and practices. METHODS: Using cross-sectional household surveys and community-level contextual data from 423 kebeles representing 145 rural districts, an internal comparison group design was applied to assess whether HEP outreach activity and household-level care practices were better in kebeles with a higher WDA density. The density of active WDA leaders was considered as WDA strategy implementation strength; higher WDA density in a kebele indicating relatively high implementation strength. Based on this, kebeles were classified as higher, moderate, or lower. Multilevel logit models, adjusted for respondents' individual, household and contextual characteristics, were used to assess the associations of WDA strategy implementation strength with outcome indicators of interest. RESULTS: Average numbers of households per active WDA team leader in the 25th, 50th and 75th percentiles of the kebeles studied were respectively 41, 50 and 73. WDA density was associated with better service for six of 13 indicators considered (p < 0.05). For example, kebeles with one active WDA team leader for up to 40 households (higher category) had respectively 7 (95% CI, 2, 13), 11 (5, 17) and 9 (1, 17) percentage-points higher contraceptive prevalence rate, coverage of four or more antenatal care visits, and coverage of institutional deliveries respectively, compared with kebeles with one active WDA team leader for 60 or more households (lower category). CONCLUSION: Higher WDA strategy implementation strength was associated with better health care behaviors and practices, suggesting that the WDA strategy supported HEWs in improving health care services delivery.

The effect of implementation strength of basic emergency obstetric and newborn care (BEmONC) on facility deliveries and the met need for BEmONC at the primary health care level in Ethiopia.

BACKGROUND: Basic emergency obstetric and newborn care (BEmONC) is a primary health care level initiative promoted in low- and middle-income countries to reduce maternal and newborn mortality. Tailored support, including BEmONC training to providers, mentoring and monitoring through supportive supervision, provision of equipment and supplies, strengthening referral linkages, and improving infection-prevention practice, was provided in a package of interventions to 134 health centers, covering 91 rural districts of Ethiopia to ensure timely BEmONC care. In recent years, there has been a growing interest in measuring program implementation strength to evaluate public health gains. To assess the effectiveness of the BEmONC initiative, this study measures its implementation strength and examines the effect of its variability across intervention health centers on the rate of facility deliveries and the met need for BEmONC. METHODS: Before and after data from 134 intervention health centers were collected in April 2013 and July 2015. A BEmONC implementation strength index was constructed from seven input and five process indicators measured through observation, record review, and provider interview; while facility delivery rate and the met need for expected obstetric complications were measured from service statistics and patient records. We estimated the dose-response relationships between outcome and explanatory variables of interest using regression methods. RESULTS: The BEmONC implementation strength index score, which ranged between zero and 10, increased statistically significantly from 4.3 at baseline to 6.7 at follow-up (p < .05). Correspondingly, the health center delivery rate significantly increased from 24% to 56% (p < .05). There was a dose-response relationship between the explanatory and outcome variables. For every unit increase in BEmONC implementation strength score there was a corresponding average of 4.5 percentage points (95% confidence interval: 2.1-6.9) increase in facility-based deliveries; while a higher score for BEmONC implementation strength of a health facility at follow-up was associated with a higher met need. CONCLUSION: The BEmONC initiative was effective in improving institutional deliveries and may have also improved the met need for BEmONC services. The BEmONC implementation strength index can be potentially used to monitor the implementation of BEmONC interventions.

Effects of a community-based data for decision-making intervention on maternal and newborn health care practices in Ethiopia: a dose-response study.

BACKGROUND: Community participation and community health volunteer programs are an essential part of the health system so that health services are responsive and accountable to community needs. Information systems are necessary for community health volunteer programs to be effective, yet effectiveness evaluations of such information systems implemented at scale are rare. In October 2010, a network of female volunteers with little or no literacy, the Women's Development Army (WDA), was added to extend Ethiopia's Health Extension Program services to every household in the community. Between July 2013 and January 2015, a health management information system for the WDA's Community-Based Data for Decision-Making (CBDDM) strategy was implemented in 115 rural districts to improve the demand for and utilization of maternal and newborn health services. Using the CBDDM strategy, Health Extension Workers (HEWs) fostered the WDA and community leaders to inform, lead, own, plan, and monitor the maternal and newborn health interventions in their kebeles (communities). This paper examines the effectiveness of the CBDDM strategy. METHODS: Using data from cross-sectional surveys in 2010-11 and 2014-15 from 177 kebeles, we estimated self-reported maternal and newborn care practices from women with children aged 0 to 11 months (2124 at baseline and 2113 at follow-up), and a CBDDM implementation strength score in each kebele. Using kebele-level random-effects models, we assessed dose-response relationships between changes over time in implementation strength score and changes in maternal and newborn care practices between the two surveys. RESULTS: Kebeles with relatively high increases in CBDDM implementation strength score had larger improvements in the coverage of neonatal tetanus-protected childbirths, institutional deliveries, clean cord care for newborns, thermal care for newborns, and immediate initiation of breastfeeding. However, there was no evidence of any effect of the intervention on postnatal care within 2 days of childbirth. CONCLUSIONS: This study shows the extent to which an information system for community health volunteers with low literacy was implemented at scale, and evidence of effectiveness at scale in improving maternal and newborn health care behaviors and practices.

Changes in equity of maternal, newborn, and child health care practices in 115 districts of rural Ethiopia: implications for the health extension program.

BACKGROUND: Reducing within-country inequities in the coverage of maternal, newborn, and child health (MNCH) interventions is essential to improving a country's maternal and child health and survival rates. The community-based health extension program (HEP) of Ethiopia, launched in 2003, aims to provide equitable primary health care services. Since 2008 the Last Ten Kilometers Project (L10K) has been supporting the HEP in promoting equitable MNCH interventions in 115 districts covering about 14 million people. We report the inequities in MNCH programmatic indicators in 2008 and in 2010 in the L10K areas, along with changes in equity between the two survey periods, and the implications of these results for the national program. METHODS: The study used cross-sectional surveys of 3932 and 3867 women from 129 representative kebeles (communities) conducted in December 2008 and December 2010, respectively. Nineteen HEP outreach activity coverage and MNCH care practice indicators were calculated for each survey period, stratified by the inequity factors considered (i.e. age, education, wealth and distance from the nearest health facility). We calculated relative inequities using concentration indices for each of the indicators and inequity factors. Ninety-five percent confidence intervals and survey design adjusted Wald's statistics were used to assess differentials in equity. RESULTS: Education and age related inequities in the MNCH indicators were the most prominent (observed for 13 of the 19 outcomes analyzed), followed in order by wealth inequity (observed for eight indicators), and inequity due to distance from the nearest health facility (observed for seven indicators). Age inequities in six of the indicators increased between 2008 and 2010; nevertheless, there was no consistent pattern of changes in inequities during that period. Some related issues such as inequities due to wealth in household visits by the health extension workers and prevalence of modern family household; and inequities due to education in household visits by community health promoters showed improvement. CONCLUSIONS: Addressing these inequities in MNCH interventions by age, education and wealth will contribute significantly toward achieving Ethiopia's maternal health targets for the Millennium Development Goals and beyond. HEP will require more innovative strategies to achieve equitable MNCH services and outcomes and to routinely monitor the effectiveness of those strategies.

Effect of the health extension program and other accessibility factors on care-seeking behaviors for common childhood illnesses in rural Ethiopia.

BACKGROUND: In January 2011, Health Extension Workers (HEWs) of Ethiopia's Health Extension Program (HEP) began providing pneumonia case management for children less than five years of age through the integrated Community Case Management (iCCM) strategy. OBJECTIVE: To report the effect of HEP, following the introduction of iCCM, and other accessibility factors on care-seeking behaviors for common childhood illnesses (acute respiratory infection [ARI], diarrhea, and fever). METHODS: Three possible care-seeking outcomes for childhood illnesses were considered: not seeking appropriate care, seeking care from HEP sources, or seeking care from other appropriate sources. The baseline care-seeking outcomes from the Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey, 2011, were compared with the care-seeking outcomes in a follow-up iCCM survey in December 2012. The effects of the HEP intensity and other factors on care-seeking outcomes were estimated using regression analyses. RESULTS: Appropriate care-seeking for children with acute respiratory infection, ARI, diarrhea, or fever increased two-fold, from 19% at baseline to 38% at follow-up, mainly due to an increase in seeking care for common child- hood illnesses from HEWs. Higher intensity of the HEP and other accessibility factors were associated with higher care-seeking for childhood illnesses from HEP sources. CONCLUSION: Incorporating iCCM within the HEP service package significantly improved the appropriate care-seeking behaviors for childhood illnesses in rural Ethiopia.

Effectiveness of supportive supervision on the consistency of integrated community cases management skills of the health extension workers in 113 districts of Ethiopia.

BACKGROUND: Consistency in the adherence to integrated Community Case Management (iCCM) protocols for common childhood illnesses provided by Ethiopia's Health Extension Program (HEP) frontline workers. One approach is to provide regular clinical mentoring to the frontline health workers of the HEP at their health posts (HP) through supportive supervision (SS) following the initial training. OBJECTIVE: To Assess the effectiveness of visits to improve the consistency of iCCM skills (CoS) of the HEWs in 113 districts in Ethiopia. METHODS: We analyzed data from 3,909 supportive supervision visits between January 2011 and June 2013 in 113 districts in Ethiopia. From case assessment registers, a health post was classified as consistent in managing pneumonia, malaria, or diarrhea cases if the disease classification, treatment, and follow-up of the last two cases managed at the health posts were consistent with the protocol. We used regression models to assess the effects of SS on CoS. RESULTS: All HPs (2,368) received at least one supportive supervision visit, 41% received two, and 15% received more than two. During the observation period, HP management consistency in pneumonia, malaria, and diarrhea increased by 3.0, 2.7 and 4.4-fold, respectively. After controlling for secular trend and other factors, significant dose-response relationships were observed between number of SS visits and CoS indicators. CONCLUSIONS: The SS visits following the initial training were effective in improving the CoS.

Effectiveness of participatory community solutions strategy on improving household and provider health care behaviors and practices: A mixed-method evaluation.

INTRODUCTION: We implemented a participatory quality improvement strategy in eight primary health care units of Ethiopia to improve use and quality of maternal and newborn health services. METHODS: We evaluated the effects of this strategy using mixed-methods research. We used before-and-after (March 2016 and November 2017) cross-sectional surveys of women who had children 0-11 months to compare changes in maternal and newborn health care indicators in the 39 communities that received the intervention and the 148 communities that did not. We used propensity scores to match the intervention with the comparison communities at baseline and difference-in-difference analyses to estimate intervention effects. The qualitative method included 51 in-depth interviews of community volunteers, health extension workers, health center directors and staff, and project specialists. RESULTS: The difference-in-difference analyses indicated that 7.9 percentage points (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.8-13.9%) increase in receiving skilled delivery care between baseline and follow-up surveys in the intervention area that is attributable to the strategy. The intervention effect on postnatal care in 48 hours of the mother was 15.3% (95% CI: 7.4-23.2). However, there was no evidence that the strategy affected the seven other maternal and newborn health care indicators considered. Interview participants said that the participatory design and implementation strategy helped them to realize gaps, identify real problems, and design appropriate solutions, and created a sense of ownership and shared responsibility for implementing interventions. CONCLUSIONS: Community participation in planning and monitoring maternal and newborn health service delivery improves use of some high-impact maternal and newborn health services. The study supports the notion that participatory community strategies should be considered to foster community-responsive health systems.

Application of behavioral economics principles to reduce injectable contraceptive discontinuation in rural Ethiopia: A stratified-pair, cluster-randomized field trial.

Background: Contraceptive prevalence in Ethiopia jumped from 6% in 2000 to 36% in 2016, mainly due to increased injectable method use. However, discontinuation rates among injectable users were high (38%). Given that the public sector is the major source for injectable contraceptives, John Snow Inc. (JSI) in collaboration with ideas42 worked with Ethiopia's flagship Health Extension Program to apply behavioral design to mitigate discontinuation of injectable contraceptives. Methods: We applied behavioral economics insights to mitigate the discontinuation of injectable contraceptives. This process created an intervention package, consisting of a health worker planning calendar, a client counseling job aid, and client appointment cards. A stratified-pair cluster-randomized field trial tested the effectiveness of the intervention. The study area included two districts from the four regions where JSI was implementing a family planning program. One district from each region was randomly allocated to the intervention arm. Women visiting health posts to use injectable contraceptives were enrolled in the study. Regression methods, adjusted for study design, participants' backgrounds, and contextual factors, estimated the intervention's effect on discontinuation rates. Results: A behavioral design methodology was feasibly implemented in a rural, low-resource setting in Ethiopia. The resultant intervention package was successfully delivered in 19 satellite health posts in four districts. Intervention adherence was high for the appointment cards and counseling job aid, but not for the planning calendar. The injectable discontinuation rate was 10.8 % (95% confidence interval: 2.2, 19.3) points lower in the intervention area compared to the control area during the post-intervention follow-up survey. Conclusion: The use of two tools informed by behavioral economics -the appointment card and counseling job aid-effectively decreased injectable discontinuation even with the presence of other health system bottlenecks. Behavioral economics insights and the behavioral design methodology have the potential to enhance family planning programs in Ethiopia and elsewhere.

Reproductive health risk and protective factors among unmarried youth in Ghana.

CONTEXT: In Ghana, as in many other Sub-Saharan African countries, the behaviors of the current cohort of adolescents will strongly influence the course of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. This study sought to identify factors associated with elevated risks of pregnancy and sexually transmitted infection among unmarried Ghanaian youth. METHODS: A nationally representative sample of 3,739 unmarried 12-24-year-olds were surveyed. Various regression techniques were used to assess the effects of individual and contextual factors on sexual behavior and condom use. RESULTS: Forty-one percent of female and 36% of male youth reported being sexually experienced. On average, sexually experienced youth had had fewer than two partners; only 4% of these females and 11% of males had had more than one sexual partner in the three months before the survey. Although Ghanaian youth are knowledgeable about condoms, only 24% of sexually experienced males and 20% of females reported consistent condom use with their current or most recent partner. A sizable number of contextual factors and attributes of youth themselves were associated with sexual behaviors, while individual characteristics were stronger predictors of condom use. CONCLUSIONS: The findings provide further justification for interventions targeting key contextual factors that influence youth behaviors in addition to providing youth with necessary communication, negotiation and other life skills.

Reproductive health risk and protective factors among youth in Lusaka, Zambia.

PURPOSE: To: (a) identify risk and protective factors for behaviors that expose Zambian youth to risk of HIV infection and, (b) assess whether research findings from the United States concerning protective factors in "high-risk" environments might apply to other settings. METHODS: A community-based sample of 2328 youth ages 10-24 years residing in Lusaka, Zambia was interviewed. Multivariate statistical methods were used to isolate risk and protective factors for selected sexual and contraceptive behaviors. Seven categories of factors were considered: sociodemographic factors, sexual-reproductive health knowledge and perceptions, nonsexual risk behaviors, peer influence, connections with parents and social institutions, and communication with sexual partners. RESULTS: A sizeable number of factors were associated with each outcome. Only two factors, school attendance and knowledge of AIDS, were associated with both lower levels of sexual activity and consistent use of condoms, and only engaging in higher-risk social activities with close friends was a risk factor for both. The effects of the other factors considered varied by outcome and gender. As in prior research, strong influences of peers were observed, but connections with parents and social institutions unexpectedly did not emerge as protective. CONCLUSION: Because of the number and diverse nature of factors influencing adolescent behaviors, it is unlikely that a single intervention will be found to immediately change sexual risk-taking behaviors in Zambia.

Correlates of adolescent pregnancy in La Paz, Bolivia: findings from a quantitative-qualitative study.

Recent data indicate that nearly one in three Bolivian adolescent females becomes pregnant prior to reaching age twenty. This article presents the results of a study undertaken to address the question of why some female adolescents in La Paz, Bolivia, become pregnant while others in similar circumstances avoid early pregnancy. The study utilized mixed qualitative-quantitative methods based on a case-control design. Among the potential explanatory factors considered were family structure, parental relationships, partner relationships, knowledge of pregnancy risks, self-esteem, and locus of control. Significant differences between girls experiencing a pregnancy and those who had not were observed on two of the six factors considered-relationships with parents and self-esteem. Girls who had experienced a pregnancy were less likely to have reported affectionate and supportive parents, more likely to have reported fighting in their home, and exhibited lower levels of self-esteem than those who had never been pregnant. Focus-group discussions suggested that adolescent females in La Paz lack trustworthy support networks that would empower them to seek information regarding sex and contraception and to act upon such information.

Effect of ethiopia's health extension program on maternal and newborn health care practices in 101 rural districts: a dose-response study.

BACKGROUND: Improving newborn survival is essential if Ethiopia is to achieve Millennium Development Goal 4. The national Health Extension Program (HEP) includes community-based newborn survival interventions. We report the effect of these interventions on changes in maternal and newborn health care practices between 2008 and 2010 in 101 districts, comprising 11.6 million people, or 16% of Ethiopia's population. METHODS AND FINDINGS: Using data from cross-sectional surveys in December 2008 and December 2010 from a representative sample of 117 communities (kebeles), we estimated the prevalence of maternal and newborn care practices, and a program intensity score in each community. Women with children aged 0 to 11 months reported care practices for their most recent pregnancy and childbirth. The program intensity score ranged between zero and ten and was derived from four outreach activities of the HEP front-line health workers. Dose-response relationships between changes in program intensity and the changes in maternal and newborn health were investigated using regression methods, controlling for secular trend, respondents' background characteristics, and community-level factors. Between 2008 and 2010, median program intensity score increased 2.4-fold. For every unit increase in the score, the odds of receiving antenatal care increased by 1.13 times (95% CI 1.03-1.23); the odds of birth preparedness increased by 1.31 times (1.19-1.44); the odds of receiving postnatal care increased by 1.60 times (1.34-1.91); and the odds of initiating breastfeeding immediately after birth increased by 1.10 times (1.02-1.20). Program intensity score was not associated with skilled deliveries, nor with some of the other newborn health care indicators. CONCLUSIONS: The results of our analysis suggest that Ethiopia's HEP platform has improved maternal and newborn health care practices at scale. However, implementation research will be required to address the maternal and newborn care practices that were not influenced by the HEP outreach activities.

The impact of the African Youth Alliance program on the sexual behavior of young people in Uganda.

This study evaluates the impact of the African Youth Alliance (AYA) program on the sexual behavior of young people aged 17-22 in Uganda. Between 2000 and 2005, the comprehensive multicomponent AYA program implemented behavior-change communication and youth-friendly clinical services, and it coordinated policy and advocacy. The program provided institutional capacity building and established coordination mechanisms between agencies that implemented programs for young people. The analysis of findings from both a self-reported exposure design and a static group comparison design indicated that AYA had a positive impact on sexual behavior among young females but not among young males. AYA-exposed girls were at least 13 percentage points more likely to report having used a condom at last sex, at least 10 percentage points more likely to report that they had consistently used condoms with their current partner, at least 10 percentage points more likely to have used contraceptives at last sex, and 13 percentage points more likely to have had fewer sex partners during the past 12 months, compared with girls who were not exposed to the AYA program. Scaling up the AYA program in Uganda could, therefore, be expected to improve significantly the sexual and reproductive health of young women. Effective strategies for promoting safer sexual behaviors among boys and young men must be identified, however.

The impact of a reproductive health franchise on client satisfaction in rural Nepal.

This study evaluates the impact of a nurse and paramedic reproductive health franchise in rural Nepal on client satisfaction and utilization of services. A quasi-experimental study design, with baseline and follow-up measurements on nonequivalent control groups, was used to assess the effects of the intervention. The study collected data from exit interviews with male and female clients at clinics and from household interviews with married women. Our assessment covers the project's performance for about a year of actual implementation. Client satisfaction with the quality of services increased across a range of indicators at intervention clinics but not at control clinics. Overall satisfaction with services also increased only at intervention clinics but not at control clinics. Consistent with these changes, loyalty increased among clients of franchised clinics. The analysis showed a positive relationship between client satisfaction and loyalty. Although the project's implementation was examined over a relatively short period of time, there appears to have been a net positive effect of the intervention on obtaining family planning products from medical stores/pharmacies. The study shows that franchising reproductive health services increases a provider's interest in delivering better quality services in rural areas of a developing country.

The role of user charges and structural attributes of quality on the use of maternal health services in Morocco.

Health care decision makers in settings with low levels of utilization of primary services are faced with the challenge of balancing the sometimes competing goals of increasing coverage and utilization of maternity services, particularly among the poor, with that of ensuring the financial viability of the health system. Morocco is a case in point where this policy dilemma is currently being played out. This study examines the role of household out-of-pocket costs and structural attributes of quality on the use of maternity care in Morocco using empirical data collected from both households and health care facilities. A nested logit model is estimated, and the coefficient estimates are used to carry out policy simulations of the impact of changes in the levels of out-of-pocket fees and structural attributes of quality in order to help guide policy makers responsible for the design of pending social insurance programs. The results of the paper suggest that social insurance strategies that involve increases in out-of-pocket charges in the form of copayments could be implemented without untoward effects on appropriate use of maternity care for non-poor women, but would be contraindicated for poorer and rural households.