tailieunhanh - Legacy Series: FINANCIAL SUSTAINABILITY OF REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH SERVICES

The research was undertaken using a common methodology, set of research questions and analytic framework for reporting. Prior to the fieldwork, a policy and situational analysis was undertaken by each team, based on the work of locally recruited consultants who assembled relevant policy documents, programme and project reports and plans, academic articles, and associated “grey” literature. During the site visits, interviews were conducted with key staff of WHO and UNFPA country offices, MOH and other government officials (. finance), and representatives of nongovernmental agencies and donor agencies active in the health-sector reform process or in SRH. Brief field visits were. | ịị Population Council FRONTIERS IN REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH Legacy Series FINANCIAL SUSTAINABILITY OF REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH SERVICES This paper is part of a series of eight Legacy Papers synthesizing major lessons learned through research conducted under the Frontiers in Reproductive Health Program FRONTIERS . The full set of Legacy Papers includes -- Capacity Building -- Family Planning -- Female Genital Mutilation Cutting -- Gender -- Integration of Services -- Sustainability of Services -- Utilization of Research Findings -- Youth Reproductive Health The complete reports referenced in these papers are available online frontiers Understanding Costs An Essential Skill in Reproductive Health Programs Evidence about cost of intervention is critical for program decision-making because it provides evidence about potential for sustainability. Reproductive health services remain a low priority for most developing country health programs and face continuing reductions in donor funding and competition from other priorities such as HIV and malaria. It is more important than ever to understand costs of interventions when considering scale-up and sustainability Box l especially comparability of these costs with existing or alternative service delivery strategies. FRONTIERS addressed the need to increase sustainability in two ways i routinely monitoring costs of implementing new approaches through operations research and ii capacity building to enable partner agencies themselves to assess program costs and determine potential economic impact of changes associated with adapting new or revised ways of providing services. FRONTIERS costing studies provide important lessons about ways of measuring the costs and effectiveness of public and non-governmental programs systematically planning for costing during scale-up and improving understanding of issues influencing financial sustainability. Box 1. What Is Financial Sustainability Financial sustainability can be .