Pregnant Women Access to Demand Side Financing of Reproductive Health Care and Their Maternal and Neonatal Outcome: A Comparative Study

A cross-sectional comparative study was conducted at the Tarail Upazilla (DSF providing) and Pakundia Upazilla (non-DSF providing) in the Kishoreganj district. To estimate the proportion of pregnant women, have access to Demand Side Financing of Reproductive Health Care, and find out their maternal and neonatal outcome contributes to achieving MDG 4 and 5.

The maternal mortality ratio (MMR) in Bangladesh remains one of the highest in the world. To reduce maternal and child mortality and morbidity, the Government of Bangladesh has initiated the Demand Side Financing Maternal Health Voucher Scheme as an intervention program that will contribute to achieving MDG 4 and 5.

Demand-side financing entails poor pregnant women to get more access to maternal health services like ANC, EmOC, skill delivery and PNC. A total of 150 mothers were interviewed by a pretested semi-structured interview questionnaire. Out of 150 mothers, 75 mothers had access to DSF and 75 mothers had no access to DSF.

The study was conducted from 1st January to 31st December 2019. From this study, it was found that the majority of the mother who adopted the maternal health voucher scheme attended antenatal checkups at the Upazila health complex and community clinic at least one time during their pregnancy. In the DSF area, maternal and neonatal outcomes were found better than that of the non-DSF area which contributes to achieving MDG 4 and 5.

The mother who had access to DSF had 93.3 percent normal outcome while the mother who had no access to DSF had 77.4 percent normal outcome. As a result, the maternal and neonatal outcome of DSF recipients’ mothers were better than non-DSF recipients’ mothers. Demand Side Financing of Reproductive Healthcare is an important national issue that eminently contributes to achieving MDG 4 and 5. There is plenty of scope for further research and places to improve maternal and child healthcare.