Financial protection and equity of access to health services with the free maternal and child health initiative in Lao PDR.

Though Lao People's Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) has made considerable progress in improving maternal and child health (MCH), significant disparities exist nationwide, with the poor and geographically isolated ethnic groups having limited access to services. In its pursuit of universal health coverage, the government introduced a Free MCH initiative in 2011, which has recently been subsumed within the new National Health Insurance (NHI) programme. Although this was a major national health financing reform, there have been few evaluations of the extent to which it improved equitable access to MCH services.

An option for measuring maternal mortality in developing countries: a survey using community informants.

Background: The maternal mortality ratio (MMR) remains high in most developing countries. Local, recent estimates of MMR are needed to motivate policymakers and evaluate interventions. But, estimating MMR, in the absence of vital registration systems, is difficult.