The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA

3114.0: Monday, November 11, 2002 - 11:06 AM

Abstract #38454

Do subsidies really reach the poor: Analysis of users of subsidised contraceptives

Anand Verdhan Sinha, Commercial Market Strategies Project, 50 M Shanti Path, Gate 3 Niti Marg, Chanakyapuri, New Delhi, India, +91-11-688 6813, avs.cms@vsnl.net and Ruth Berg, Abt Associates Inc., Suite 600, 4800 Montgomery Lane, Bethesda, MD 20814.

Considerable public resources in India go to making free and subsidised contraceptives available for poor clients and for inaccessible areas. Oral Contraceptives (OCs) are available in three broad categories; free products, subsidised/social marketing products, and full priced commercial OCs; their purpose to stratify the market by socio-economic status.

Two sources of data, DHS/India and a CMS survey of OC users and intenders, were analysed to look for relationships between OC brands used and users socio-economic status. Depending on the brand used, OC users were divided into one the three product categories. These were analysed by indicators such as respondent’s socio-economic category, and residence (rural and urban).

Analysis of DHS/India data showed little relationship between socio-economic status of users and OC categories used. Going against policy expectations, free and subsidised products were used mostly by those from the upper and middle socio-economic groups. In rural areas, full price commercial brands were used more by the poorest socio-economic groups than the higher socio-economic groups. Analysis of the CMS survey data also showed very little segmentation of OC brands used by socio-economic status. Free and subsidised product users came from across all socio-economic levels, as did users of full priced commercial OCs.

Free, subsidised and commercial products are expected to appeal to different socio-economic segments due to differences in costs. There is however little correlation of cost of product to socio-economic status of users. Positioning strategies other than pricing, are needed to ensure that subsidised and free products reach poorer contraceptive users.

Learning Objectives:

Keywords: Contraceptives, Financing

Related Web page: www.cmsproject.com

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: Commercial Market Strategies Project
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.

Financing and Sustainability

The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA