 | The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
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| The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
Mengistu Asnake, MD, MPH and Yilma Melkamu, MD, MPH. Pathfinder International-Ethiopia Office, 9 Galen Street, Suite 217, Watertown, MA 02472, 617-924-7200, ghainsworth@pathfind.org
Severe resource limitations have forced policy makers to find ways of introducing fees for service and of fostering the private for-profit sector to deliver services. The government of Ethiopia has started to implement a health care financing strategy, which calls for increased cost recovery in government-sponsored health services and increased participation of the private sector. Where the health sector is primarily financed by the government and services are provided at a low cost or free of charge, the involvement of the private sector is necessary to reduce government health expenditures, increase access to services and improve overall quality.
Pathfinder’s Private Sector Franchise Initiative is the first attempt in the country to involve the private sector in the area of reproductive health (RH). The program aims to improve access to quality RH care through training of private-sector service providers in quality of care, long-term and permanent family planning (FP) methods, and postabortion care, as well as by providing necessary equipment and contraceptive supplies. At present, the program has 57 member clinics linked to 491 community, workplace, and marketplace RH agents in three major states of Ethiopia.
Since January 2001, 500 health professionals from member clinics have received training in various clinical and managerial aspects of RH. A total of 57,817 new clients have been served with different short-term, long-term and permanent FP methods and over 500,000 people have been reached with RH messages. This paper highlights successes, challenges and lessons learned of the Private Sector Franchise Initiative.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Reproductive Health, Public/Private Partnerships
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
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.