Making health markets work better for poor people: the case of informal providers

There has been a dramatic spread of market relationships in many low- and middle-income countries. This spread has been much faster than the development of the institutional arrangements to influence the performance of health service providers. This paper applies lessons from this experience to the issue of informal providers, drawing on the findings of studies in Bangladesh and Nigeria.

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WP2 - Rapid methods for monitoring the utilization of healthcare facilities by the poor: Findings from a pilot project in rural Bangladesh

There has been growing concern about the inequities in the utilization of health care services by the socially disadvantaged in any setting. Health programme personnel always aim to increase the level of utilization of the services they provide to people from all segments of society. the present exercise applied benefit incidence, LQAS and sequential sampling methods in monitoring the utilization of health services by the poorest section of the population in two upazilas in Bangladesh. The practical challenges in adopting the methods and the consistency in the conclusions made by using the three methods have been examined and their possible use has been discussed.

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FHS Bangladesh Research Brief 1 - Health Seeking Behaviour in Chakaria

This research brief focuses on the health-seeking behaviour of the people in Chakaria, a rural area in Bangladesh. Information was collected from 1,000 households during February 2007 on the type of illnesses the villagers suffered from during the two weeks preceding the survey and their associated health seeking behavior

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Three methods to monitor utilization of healthcare services by the poor

This paper demonstrates that with some extra efforts community and facility based data at the lower level can be used to monitor utilization of healthcare services by the poor.

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Health for the rural masses: Insights from Chakaria

Health for the rural masses: Insights from Chakaria provides an overview of the situation of health system as it exists in rural Chakaria, Bangladesh. The findings highlight the construct of the existing health systems, people’s health seeking behaviours, the role of formal and informal healthcare providers, the size of health market, and costs of healthcare.

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