Full Citation

Title: Financial incentives and delivery care: Evidence from the Safe Delivery Incentive Program in Nepal

Citation Type: Journal Article

Publication Year: 2023

ISBN:

ISSN: 1099-1050

DOI: 10.1002/HEC.4732

NSFID:

PMCID:

PMID: 37421645

Abstract: This paper examines the effects of the Safe Delivery Incentive Program in Nepal, a cash transfer program that reduced the costs of childbirth in healthcare facilities. Women giving birth for the first, second, or third time (below-cutoff) became eligible in 2005, and women giving birth for the fourth time or more (above-cutoff) became eligible two years later. Using a difference-in-differences design, I find that below-cutoff women in high Human Development Index (HDI) districts increased facility delivery by 8.8 percentage points. Despite larger cost reductions, below-cutoff women in low HDI districts did not increase facility delivery but increased home delivery with skilled personnel by 4.8 percentage points. The program had no impact on above-cutoff women, who become eligible 2 years into the program. I suggest that pre-existing barriers such as poor infrastructure of roads and facilities, customs, liquidity constraints, and lack of program awareness limited the program's effectiveness.

Url: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37421645/

User Submitted?: No

Authors: Tiwari, Manda

Periodical (Full): Health economics

Issue: 10

Volume: 32

Pages: 2372-2389

Data Collections: IPUMS Global Health - DHS

Topics: Fertility and Mortality, Reproductive and Sexual Health

Countries: Nepal