Utilization of maternal and child health (MCH) services are still major challenges in many developing countries including Myanmar. Demand side financing maternal and child health voucher scheme (DSF-MCHVS) is one of the solutions for maternal health challenges which has been piloted in Yedashae Township,Myanmar as a 3 years pilot program since 2013. This study was to explore the effect of DSF-MCHVS program on pregnant mothers. We conducted a cross-sectional household survey. As results from survey, in terms of service utilization, receiving care with skill birth attendant (SBA) after MCHVS was significantly increased, delivery at health facilities was not significantly increased and even slightly decreased in receiving PNC. For the vaccination, there was no statistically increased. In terms of type of delivery, normal delivery decreased and caesarian session increased after implementation. In cost comparison from patient perspective, direct medical cost to get treatment only needed in delivery and there was no significantly decreased after implementation. For direct non-medical and indirect cost of ANC, delivery and PNC, there was a significant increased and for vaccination, there was no statistically significant. Awareness, satisfaction and care seeking behavior for future also described with frequency and proportion. From this study, we can estimate how MCHVS implementation can effect on pregnant mothers and can use those data for MCHVS evaluation.
Keywords
Maternal and child health; Pregnant women; Demand side financing maternal and child health voucher scheme; MCH service cost, Myanmar