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A comparative study to analyze the cost of family planning program at the primary health center in Ahmedabad

2015; Dipika Charan of MedScience (India) publications; Volume: 4; Issue: 9 Linguagem: Inglês

10.5455/ijmsph.2015.04042015267

2320-4664

Neeta Mathur, Atul Trivedi, Geeta Kedia,

Global Health and Epidemiology

study has focused on the financing and cost effectiveness of the Indian FP program. [1]Since the 1960s, a number of FP studies have incorporated elements of economic analyses; the cumulated research indicates the actual and potential use of costing techniques in program administration and planning. [2]everal Population Council projects in Latin America and Asia, and a URC project in Indonesia have conducted costing exercises. [3]Along with the increase in the number of studies, methodological modifications and refinements have also occurred. [4,5]he purpose of this study is to analyze the costs of primary health center (PHC), at the village level, in providing FP services and to examine the variation in unit cost in different PHCs.Background: As family planning programs mature and the requirements for the resources expand, research is required to shed light on cost analysis of the program.A recent World Bank study has focused on the financing and cost effectiveness of the Indian family planning program. Objective:The objective of this study is to determine the unit cost of a family planning program provided at the primary health centers (PHCs) and to examine the variations in unit cost in different PHCs. Methods and Material:The present study was carried out in three PHCs of Ahmedabad district, namely Sanathal, Nandej, and Uperdal, between April 1, 2006 and March 31, 2007.For estimating the cost of a health program, information on all the physical and human resources that were basic inputs to the PHC services were collected and grouped into two categories: non-recurrent (capital resources vehicles, buildings, etc.) and recurrent resources (salaries, contraceptives, maintenance, etc.).To generate the required data, two types of schedules were developed: daily time schedule and PHC/ SC (subcenter) information schedule. Results:The unit cost of utilizing family planning method works out to be highest at Nandej PHC (` 267.68) and lowest at Uperdal PHC (` 190.44), followed by (` 194.12) at Sanathal PHC.The high cost at Nandej PHC is due to low utilization of the family planning service. Conclusions:Increasing the coverage of health services is a key to reduce the unit cost.Personnel costs account for the maximum share of the total cost.Hence, efforts should be made to have a judicious use of personnel.