 | The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
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| The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
Asma Balal, MBA, MS, Commercial Market Strategies Project, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, 1001 G Street NW, Suite 400W, Washington, DC 20001-4545, 202-220-2160, abalal@cmsproject.com and Ruth Berg, PhD, Commercial Market Strategies Project, Abt Associates Inc., 1001 G street, N.W., Suite 400 W, Washington, DC 20001.
Commercial Market Strategies (CMS) Project implemented a pilot network of private sector nurses and paramedics (Sewa) in Nepal with USAID funding. The main objective was to improve access to high quality family planning and other reproductive health services among the target population. CMS provided training on reproductive health and service marketing to network providers, assisted with the external promotion activities, and monitored quality of care on a regular basis.
This paper primarily focuses on the importance of fostering a positive client provider interaction in improving client perception of quality and measures its impact on service utilization. The service marketing training component emphasized the concept of ‘relationship marketing’ that incorporated dimensions of trust, empathy, bonding, and loyalty. The ‘relationship marketing’ component was designed to highlight the importance of retaining satisfied clients in addition to attracting new clients through external marketing efforts.
Comparison of findings from client exit interviews suggests an improvement in the client perceptions of quality from baseline to midterm. More clients were likely to report provider’s caring attitude, personal knowledge of provider, and provider reliability as reasons for choosing the network clinic. The proportion of women visiting network clinics for reproductive health services also increased at the time of mid term assessment. Findings show the positive impact of ‘relationship marketing’ training component in improving client perceptions of quality. The third (endline) round of data collection was completed in January 2003 and findings will be presented in the paper.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Quality, International Reproductive Health
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: Commercial Market Strategies Project implemeted the network with USAID funding
I have a significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.
Relationship: I am an employee of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu that is one of the consortium firms managing the CMS project