Population Council Research that makes a difference

The Population Services and Training Centre (PSTC) with financial support from USAID/Bangladesh provided an essential services package (ESP) (including child health, family planning, maternal health, communicable disease treatment, and limited curative care services, among others) to the poor and disadvantaged people in the catchment area of its clinics. Because most ESP services are preventive in nature, most clients are willing to pay only a nominal fee for them. These payments are insignificant in terms of supporting the financial sustainability of the clinics. However, some clients have indicated a willingness to pay higher fees for health and curative care services.

FRONTIERS worked with PSTC to explore the potential for increasing fees for selected curative services as a means of improving the financial sustainability of two clinics. The project included a detailed cost analysis to identify the average variable cost of providing specific, frequently demanded services and revision of the fee structure for frequently demanded services to test the effect of price increases. The results will be used for institutional financial planning.