ArticleBMJ open2022
How much does it cost to combine supply-side and demand-side RBF approaches in a single intervention? Full cost analysis of the Results Based Financing for Maternal and Newborn Health Initiative in Malawi.
Article in BMJ open, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 3 citations in OpenAlex.
- Factors influencing maternal death in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam countries: A systematic review.PloS one · 2024Pooled it
- Costs and Budget Impact of a Health System Strengthening Intervention for Hypertension and Cardiovascular Disease Care in Ghana.Applied health economics and health policy · 2026Article
- Influences of Normative Medical Nutrition Management Based on Health Concepts on Weight Control and Maternal and Infant Outcomes in Women of Advanced Maternal Age.Iranian journal of public health · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo estimate the economic cost associated with implementing the Results Based Financing for Maternal and Newborn Health (RBF4MNH) Initiative in Malawi. No specific hypotheses were formulated ex-ante.
settingPrimary and secondary delivery facilities in rural Malawi.
participantsNot applicable. The study relied almost exclusively on secondary financial data.
interventionThe RBF4MNH Initiative was a results-based financing (RBF) intervention including both a demand and a supply-side component. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: Cost per potential and for actual beneficiaries.
resultsThe overall economic cost of the Initiative during 2011-2016 amounted to €12 786 924, equivalent to €24.17 per pregnant woman residing in the intervention districts. The supply side activity cluster absorbed over 40% of all resources, half of which were spent on infrastructure upgrading and equipment supply, and 10% on incentives. Costs for the demand side activity cluster and for verification were equivalent to 14% and 6%, respectively of the Initiative overall cost.
conclusionCarefully tracing resource consumption across all activities, our study suggests that the full economic cost of implementing RBF interventions may be higher than what was previously reported in published cost-effectiveness studies. More research is urgently needed to carefully trace the costs of implementing RBF and similar health financing innovations, in order to inform decision-making in low-income and middle-income countries around scaling up RBF approaches.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.