Community Based Monitoring and Planning Committee in Pune, Maharashtra (India) „Convinces‟ Rural Hospital Gynaecologist to Return Rs. 38,000 charged from Patients
Article by: Dr. Nitin Jadhav About 40 km from Pune city, a well known and technically competent gynaecologist is appointed in the rural hospital (RH – equivalent to Community Health Centre) and he also runs his private hospital in another nearby town. He has been diverting pregnant women who had registered in the RH, asking […]
Community Monitoring, International Aid and Sustainable Development: Reflections from India
Article by: Dr. Abhijit Das Recently, a colleague of mine had a request from an international Non Government Organisation (NGO) for joining them on a community monitoring related project for which they were putting together an LOI (Letter of Intent). As the twin ideas of transparency and accountability gain credibility as important considerations of good […]
Updates for March to June from COPASAH East and Southern African Region
Article by: Robinah Kaitiritimba Community of Practitioners on Accountability and Social Action in Health (COPASAH) is steadily growing in the east and southern African region. The growing number of members will be a resource in fostering social accountability. The new members from different thematic areas of the health sector will add value to COPASAH due […]
We should participate in advocating for better health service delivery
By Joan Esther Kilande The public health sector exists to serve the health needs of the population, for instance availability and accessibility of essential medicines and health supplies (EMHS). However, existing evidence indicates that demand for EMHS exceeds supply. Uganda’s societal setting has been nurtured in a way that vulnerable communities are on a receiving end, […]
Regional COPASAH Workshop for Latin America
Article by: Walter Flores On July 15 and 16, steering committee members of COPASAH met in Quito, Ecuador, with members of the Ecuadorian Public HealthForum – a civil society organisation of academicians, practitioners and activitists – to exchange analysis and experiences around thedevelopment of public policies in the region and to learn about COPASAH. The […]
Monitoring of Vaccine Trials – Journey from Protest to Policy Discussions
Clinical trials and vaccine trials in India have become an important issue of policy level discussions. The report of the parliamentary panel severely indicts the premier government body on public health research – Indian Council for Medical Research – for colluding with the international agencies and for flouting all established ethical and public health norms. […]
Empowering Village Health and Sanitation Committees in Orissa, India
Devika Biswas (The Humanity is a NGO based in Balangir district in the state of Orissa in India. They have been working with the local communities in 12 villages in Patnagarh block raising awareness in the community about health related entitlements and expenditures and training the local Village Health and Sanitation Committees to make local […]
Monitoring Free Maternal Health Services for institutional delivery in Uttar Pradesh, India
Jashodhara Dasgupta The women leaders of the grassroots organization, Mahila Swasthya Adhikar Manch (MSAM in Uttar Pradesh India) conducted a neighborhood survey in 188 revenue villages of 18 blocks in 10 districts of Uttar Pradesh, to assess women’s experiences of accessing ‘free’ maternal health services in Government hospitals between Sep’11 and March’12. The non-literate women used a […]
Is It Time for a New Paradigm for “Citizen Engagement”? The Role of Context and What the Evidence Tells Us
Almost all development agencies promote some form of citizen engagement and accountability, often framed as ‘voice’, ‘demand-side governance’, ‘demand for good governance’ or ‘social accountability’. The current World Bank president, Jim Yong Kim, recently put itthat, “citizen voice can be pivotal in providing the demand-side pressure on government, service providers, and organizations such as the […]
Taxation and Accountability: Experimental Evidence for Taxation’s Effect on Citizen Behavior
A paper by Lucy Martin (Yale) In sub-Saharan Africa, low taxes co-exist with even lower government accountability, seen in high levels of corruption and low public goods provision. While there are existing theories of why taxation might be linked to better governance, many of the microfoundations of this eff ect remain unclear. I argue that taxation impacts governance by […]