Costs of Providing Maternal, Newborn and Child Healthcare: Estimates from BRAC’s IMNCS Programme in Rural Bangladesh Mohammad Nasir

Community level healthcare activities are important in low income countries like Bangladesh where the coverage of formal healthcare systems is low. Keeping pace with the national strategies and MDG targets, BRAC, has initiated a programme for improving maternal, neonatal, and child survival (IMNCS) in the rural areas of Bangladesh. The objective of the study is to provide information on economic costs of providing maternal, neonatal and child health services in this intervention. The study was conducted in two IMNCS intervention districts (Nilphamari and Gaibandha) and one control district (Netrokona) where there is BRAC Essential Health Care (EHC) intervention. All resources mobilized by the programme for service delivery were identified, quantified and valued combining top-down and bottom-up approach. Market value approach was applied to capture the opportunity cost of free resources and volunteer time.