Mobilising financial resources for maternal health

This paper is part of a Lancet series of articles about maternal survival. It begins by making the case for investment in maternal health and then considers how financial resources can be channeled to maternal health within countries. The paper examines the limitations and successes of conventional financing mechanisms including user fees; tax revenue; and insurance. It also highlights some alternative methods in providing quality care and ensuring access to the poor such as conditional cash transfers (providing money to individuals or households, which is conditional on their use of pre-specified services); and voucher schemes.

The paper concludes that there is a strong case for public investment in maternal health in view of its multiple health and social benefits and current investment in maternal health is insufficient to meet MDG-5 (to improve maternal health). User fees have impeded access to maternal health care, especially for the poor. The authors recommend that substantial resources are needed to scale up coverage of maternal health services and to create demand for these services through appropriate financing initiatives. Donors will need to pledge substantial increases in financial contributions for maternal health in low-income countries to help fill the resource gap.

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