Marion Ravit (Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine)

Marion Ravit
Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM)

Impact evaluation of the “Chèque-Santé” project in Cameroon

Coauthors: Martine Audibert (CERDI, CNRS), Lamriss Hamadou (Ecole d'Economie, Université Clermont Auvergne) and Benjamin Fomba (Université Yaoundé II)

The CERDI is pleased to welcome Marion Ravit for a research seminar. She leads an impact evaluation of the "Cheque santé" project with Martine Audibert (CNRS, CERDI) in North Cameroun. The "Cheque santé" is a prepayment tool for maternal health care services. This project is funded by the AFD-IRD Partnership for Conducting Impact Evaluations by Mobilizing Research from the Global South (PAIRES). 

Marion Ravit will present the first results of the surveys conducted this year during the seminar. 

Abstract

Implemented in 2015 by the Cameroonian government, with support from AFD among other partners, with the aim of reducing maternal and neonatal mortality, the “cheque-santé” (CS) is a pre-payment mechanism enabling a pregnant woman to be monitored throughout her pregnancy, to have a safe delivery, emergency transfer if necessary from the health facility to the reference health centre and to benefit from postnatal monitoring for herself and her baby for up to 42 days after delivery. CS has gradually been introduced in 81 accredited health facilities in three regions of northern Cameroon: Adamaoua, the North and the Extreme North.

As part of the PAIRES project (The AFD-IRD Partnership for Conducting Impact Evaluations by Mobilizing Research from the Global South), the aim of the research is to estimate the impact of CS on the use of maternal health services, maternal mortality and neonatal mortality. Data was collected via surveys, conducted in 2023, among a representative sample of health facilities in the three regions of northern Cameroon, authorised and not authorised to offer this mechanism, and among a sample of pregnant women who had and had not signed up for CS. This quantitative component was supplemented by a qualitative component involving semi-structured interviews to assess the perceptions of the players involved in implementing CS (health staff, regional and district managers, regional health delegates, etc.). The data is currently being analysed. To complete these analyses, DHS data is being used to estimate the impact of CS on maternal and neonatal mortality.

More info on the PAIRES project