Vouchers as demand side financing instruments for health care: A review of the Bangladesh maternal voucher scheme
by Jean-Olivier Schmidt, Tim Ensor, Atia Hossainc, Salam Khand
Health Policy, published online 8 February 2010
Abstract 
Demand side financing (DSF) mechanisms transfer purchasing power to specified groups for defined goods and services in order to increase access to specified services. This is an important innovation in health care systems where access remains poor despite substantial subsidies towards the supply side. In Bangladesh, a maternal health DSF pilot in 33 sub-districts was launched in 2007. We report the results of a rapid review of this scheme undertaken during 2008 after 1 year of its setup.
