BACKGROUND Emergency referral services (ERS) are being strengthened in India to improve access for institutional delivery. We evaluated a publicly financed and privately delivered model of ERS in Punjab state, India, to assess its extent and pattern of utilization, impact on institutional delivery, quality and unit cost. METHODS Data for almost 0.4 million calls received from April 2012 to Ma...

Not all eligible women use the available services under India's Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY), which provides cash incentives to encourage pregnant women to use institutional care for childbirth; limited evidence exists on demand-side factors associated with low program uptake. This study explores the views of women and ASHAs (community health workers) on the use of the JSY and institutional del...

BACKGROUND While India has made significant progress in reducing maternal mortality, attaining further declines will require increased skilled birth attendance and institutional delivery among marginalized and difficult to reach populations. METHODS A population-based survey was carried out among 16 randomly selected rural villages in rural Mysore District in Karnataka, India between August a...

BACKGROUND High out-of-pocket-expenditure (OOPE) deters families from seeking skilled/institutional care. 'Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY), a conditional cash transfer programme launched in 2005 to mitigate OOPE and to promote institutional deliveries among the poor, is part of Government of India's efforts to achieve Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 4 and 5. The objective of this study is to e...

BACKGROUND Majority of deaths from obstetric complications are preventable. But every pregnant woman face risks which may not always be detected through the risk assessment approach during antenatal care (ANC). Therefore, the presence of a skilled birth attendant in every delivery is the most critical intervention in reducing maternal mortality and morbidity. In Ethiopia the proportion of birth...

that in rural Uttar Pradesh (UP), only about one-fourth of women delivered their last child in an institution.a In 2005 the Janani Suraksha Yojana ( JSY) was launched as an intervention to address the barriers to institutional delivery, through the introduction of community-based women volunteers called Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs). Women in rural areas in low performing states ar...

BACKGROUND Two recent recommendations made by the World Health Organization confirm the benefits of companion of choice at birth on labour outcomes; however institutional practices and policies do not always support its implementation in different settings around the world. We conducted a review to determine factors that affect implementation of this intervention considering the perspectives an...

Introduction The word governance comes from the Greek word 'kubernan' which means to stir. The modern definition includes state and political institutions, their checks and balances, the rule of law and the delivery systems for the provision of public services as a core activity of the state. The GDN Global Research Project titled Varieties of Governance: Effective Public Service Delivery explo...

recent years have witnessed a parallel and seemingly contradictory trend towards both the standardization and the customization of healthcare and medical treatment. here, we explore what is meant by ‘standardization’ and ‘customization’ in healthcare settings and explore the implications of these changes for healthcare delivery. we frame the paradox of these divergent and opposing factors in te...

Background In Nepal, the maternal mortality ratio is 281 per thousand live births, among which 40% mortality occurs during home delivery. Home delivery increases the risk of maternal and neonatal mortality and morbidity due to the birth not assisted by skilled attendant. This study was carried out to determine the factors affecting the place of delivery among the mothers residing in Jhorahat VD...