Send to friendHoima is one of 20 districts in Uganda participating in a pilot project to help poor communities gain access to reproductive health services. The Global Partnership on Output-Based Aid (GPOBA), a partnership program administered by the World Bank, is using output-based aid (OBA) to make access to health services possible. OBA is a results-based approach that ties payment of public funding directly to the delivery of specific services or “outputs”.
Women can buy a voucher which they can use to pay for services at local clinics, including a “safe delivery” package of four ante-natal visits, a delivery attended by a trained medical professional, and one post-natal visit.
OBA is a simple idea that is making a big difference. According to Peter Okwero, World Bank project manager for the Reproductive Health Vouchers in Western Uganda scheme: “This project has successfully brought maternal and other reproductive health services to rural communities in western Uganda.” Dr. Okwero adds, “By using the voucher scheme, women have been empowered to choose their preferred service providers; and the providers have increased revenues, and they have recorded major improvements in knowledge and clinical practice as well as quality of care.”
Once approved services have been delivered and independently verified, clinics submit claims for payment to MSI. See how mobile phones are being used to manage the claims process.