Saving mothers and newborns through an innovative partnership with private sector obstetricians: Chiranjeevi scheme of Gujarat, India

Abstract

This innovative program shows that, at least in some areas of India, it is possible to develop a large scale partnership with the private sector to provide skilled birth attendance and emergency obstetric care to poor women at a relatively low cost. This is one way of addressing the human resource deficit in the public sector in rural areas of low-income countries to achieve Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5. We also conclude that the skilled care thus provided can reduce maternal and neonatal mortality among the poor.

Improvement of perinatal and newborn care in rural Pakistan through community-based strategies: a cluster-randomised effectiveness trial

“…Future strategies could combine CHW-based programmes with additional modalities for promotion of facility births through community education, 34 public-private partnerships, 38 and fi scal incentive schemes. 39 However, to be eff ective, such health workers and programmes need close oversight and dedicated activities.…”

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“…We recognise that provision of facility-based care for all births is a lofty and distant goal for many countries with huge challenges in access and human resources. However, according to studies investigating removal of fi nancial barriers to facility-based births 97,98 and innovations such as publicprivate partnerships for comprehensive emergency obstetric care, 99 this goal is at least possible in south Asian settings. Referrals to facilities alone will not improve How can screening for diabetes be done most cost eff ectively?…”

Providing skilled birth attendants and emergency obstetric care to the poor through partnership with private sector obstetricians in Gujarat, India

“…15 We are not suggesting that such public-private partnerships should be seen as the panacea for providing care to poor women but they are a workable solution in settings like Gujarat state. Governments and international donors should study such schemes and encourage public-private partnership as one of the strategies to achieve the United Nations Millennium Development Goals through new mechanisms of delivering services to the poor.…”