Assessment of health system readiness for routine maternal and newborn health services in Nepal: Analysis of a nationally representative health facility survey, 2015

Navigating Nepal's health financing system: A road to universal health coverage amid epidemiological and demographic transitions

BACKGROUND

Nepal has been undergoing demographic and epidemiological transitions, marked by an increasing burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and injuries. These transitions have led to financial implications, including rising out-of-pocket (OOP) expenses. This study reviews and synthesizes evidence on the status, issues and challenges in health financing system, policies, and programs to achieve universal health coverage (UHC) in Nepal.

METHODS

We conducted a scoping review of literature on Nepal's health financing system, policies, and programs. A search strategy was developed using keywords related to two core concepts: health financing and universal health coverage. Grey literature was identified from the web pages of relevant ministries and organizations. A total of 148 studies/policy documents published in Nepali and English up to 31 December 2024 were included. Policies and content related to the health financing system were reviewed to understand the status, issues and challenges of health financing functions, and UHC . A framework-guided deductive content analysis approach was employed, and findings were interpreted using the three UHC components: service coverage, population coverage, and financial coverage.

RESULTS

Nepal's health policy documents prioritize financial protection for low-income people and target groups through social health protection programs/schemes. However, multiple social health protection schemes coexist with fragmented risk pooling and low efficiency in health financing. OOP expenditure is high at 54.2%, with 10% of the population facing catastrophic health expenditures. Injuries and chronic morbidities contribute significantly to this burden, with 70% of injury-related and 62% of NCD-related expenses borne through OOP payments. Despite efforts to improve financial risk protection, the National Health Insurance Program (NHIP) suffers from low population coverage (28%), low renewal rate (54%), and financial sustainability issues (as provider payments exceed revenue collection). The UHC service coverage index, though improving, was only 54 out of 100 in 2021 reflecting limited health system capacity and insufficient readiness to address health challenges, including those posed by shifting demographics and the growing burden of NCDs. Nepal's total health expenditure remains around 2% of GDP, with persistent inefficiencies in resource allocation, fiscal decentralization, and budget absorption.

CONCLUSIONS

Nepal's health financing policies align with UHC goals, yet critical gaps remain in multiple dimensions . Issues such as inefficiencies, underfunding, and fragmented social health protection schemes limit equitable access to quality health care. Therefore, comprehensive structural reforms-spanning legal, institutional, and policy frameworks-are urgently needed. Key reforms  include: (1) merging or harmonizing existing social health protection schemes for efficient pooling and purchasing; (2) enhancing domestic health financing through increased health funding (≥5% of GDP) via payroll contributions, progressive taxation, and earmarked sin taxes; (3) reforming NHIP to mandatory enrollment starting from formal sector, subsidizing premium for informal sector and free coverage for disadvantaged groups, alongside strengthening policy implementation including accrediting of health facilities, ensuring service quality, prioritising and expanding coverage packages with strategic purchasing from all public and private health facilities; and (4) equitable public financing to ensure needs-based allocation across government levels that respond to demographic and epidemiological patterns. Further research is needed to assess hybrid tax and premium based insurance models, strategic purchasing optimization, and digital health innovations for financial sustainability.

Minimum service standards assessment tool and the hospital strengthening program: a novel first step towards the quality improvement of Nepal's national hospital system

District hospitals in Nepal, as in other Low- and Lower - Middle Income Countries (LLMICs), struggle to provide quality care due to inadequate investments in equipment, human resources, and hospital infrastructure. To address these challenges, under the leadership of the Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP), Nick Simons Institute (NSI) developed and implemented the novel Minimum Service Standards (MSS) assessment tool in close partnership with the Government of Nepal. The MSS tool routinely assesses a hospital's readiness to provide mandated care and identify gaps, which are then closed via a small annual grant to the health facility, together providing the knowledge and resources to improve hospital readiness and service availability. Since its inception in 2014, the program has expanded to 130 government hospitals as of April 2024. The program provides a blueprint for hospitals to pursue excellence and has tracked and motivated substantial improvements in services since 2014, such as basic laboratory investigations (+46%), cesarean sections (+40%), and spinal anesthesia (+32%). The program has impacted healthcare policy due to the close collaboration with the MoHP, influencing budget allocation, insurance payments, and hospital upgrade criteria, cementing its sustainability and long term impact.

Funding

No external funding.

Examining the availability and readiness of health facilities to provide cervical cancer screening services in Nepal: a cross-sectional study using data from the Nepal Health Facility Survey

OBJECTIVE

We assessed the availability and readiness of health facilities to provide cervical cancer screening services in Nepal.

DESIGN

Cross-sectional study.

SETTING

We used secondary data from a nationally representative 2021 Nepal Health Facility Survey, specifically focusing on the facilities offering cervical cancer screening services.

OUTCOME MEASURES

We defined the readiness of health facilities to provide cervical cancer screening services using the standard WHO service availability and readiness assessment manual.

RESULTS

The overall readiness score was 59.1% (95% CI 55.4% to 62.8%), with more equipment and diagnostic tests available than staff and guidelines. Public hospitals (67.4%, 95% CI 63.0% to 71.7%) had the highest readiness levels. Compared with urban areas, health facilities in rural areas had lower readiness. The Sudurpashchim, Bagmati and Gandaki provinces had higher readiness levels (69.1%, 95% CI 57.7% to 80.5%; 60.1%, 95% CI 53.4% to 66.8%; and 62.5%, 95% CI 56.5% to 68.5%, respectively). Around 17% of facilities had trained providers and specific guidelines to follow while providing cervical cancer screening services. The basic healthcare centres (BHCCs) had lower readiness than private hospitals. Facility types, province and staff management meetings had heterogeneous associations with three conditional quantile scores.

CONCLUSION

The availability of cervical cancer screening services is limited in Nepal, necessitating urgent action to expand coverage. Our findings suggest that efforts should focus on improving the readiness of existing facilities by providing training to healthcare workers and increasing access to guidelines. BHCCs and healthcare facilities in rural areas and Karnali province should be given priority to enhance their readiness.

Changes in health facility readiness for obstetric and neonatal care services in Nepal: an analysis of cross-sectional health facility survey data in 2015 and 2021

BACKGROUND

Nepal is committed to achieving the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2030 target 3.1 of reducing the maternal mortality ratio to 70 deaths per 100,000 live births. Along with increasing access to health facility (HF)-based delivery services, improving HF readiness is critically important. The majority of births in Nepal are normal low-risk births and most of them take place in public HFs, as does the majority of maternal deaths. This study aims to assess changes in HF readiness in Nepal between 2015 and 2021, notably, if HF readiness for providing high-quality services for normal low-risk deliveries improved; if the functionality of basic emergency obstetric and neonatal care (BEmONC) services increased; and if infection prevention and control improved.

METHODS

Cross-sectional data from two nationally representative HF-based surveys in 2015 and 2021 were analyzed. This included 457 HFs in 2015 and 804 HFs in 2021, providing normal low-risk delivery services. Indices for HF readiness for normal low-risk delivery services, BEmONC service functionality, and infection prevention and control were computed. Independent sample T-test was used to measure changes over time. The results were stratified by public versus private HFs.

RESULTS

Despite a statistically significant increase in the overall HF readiness index for normal low-risk delivery services, from 37.9% in 2015 to 43.7%, in 2021, HF readiness in 2021 remained inadequate. The availability of trained providers, essential medicines for mothers, and basic equipment and supplies was high, while that of essential medicines for newborns was moderate; availability of delivery care guidelines was low. BEmONC service functionality did not improve and remained below five percent facility coverage at both time points. In private HFs, readiness for good quality obstetrical care was higher than in public HFs at both time points. The infection prevention and control index improved over time; however, facility coverage in 2021 remained below ten percent.

CONCLUSIONS

The slow progress and sub-optimal readiness for normal, low-risk deliveries and infection prevention and control, along with declining and low BEmONC service functionality in 2021 is reflective of poor quality of care and provides some proximate explanation for the moderately high maternal mortality and the stagnation of neonatal mortality in Nepal. To reach the SDG 2030 target of reducing maternal deaths, Nepal must hasten its efforts to strengthen supply chain systems to enhance the availability and utilization of essential medicines, equipment, and supplies, along with guidelines, to bolster the human resource capacity, and to implement mechanisms to monitor quality of care. In general, the capacity of local governments to deliver basic healthcare services needs to be increased.

Dissecting antenatal care inequalities in western Nepal: insights from a community-based cohort study

BACKGROUND

Antenatal care (ANC) ensures continuity of care in maternal and foetal health. Understanding the quality and timing of antenatal care (ANC) is important to further progress maternal health in Nepal. This study aimed to investigate the proportion of and factors associated with, key ANC services in western Nepal.

METHODS

Data from a community-based cohort study were utilized to evaluate the major ANC service outcomes: (i) three or less ANC visits (underutilization) (ii) late initiation (≥ 4 months) and (iii) suboptimal ANC (< 8 quality indicators). Mothers were recruited and interviewed within 30 days of childbirth. The outcomes and the factors associated with them were reported using frequency distribution and multiple logistic regressions, respectively.

RESULTS

Only 7.5% of 735 mothers reported not attending any ANC visits. While only a quarter (23.77%) of mothers reported under-utilizing ANC, more than half of the women (55.21%) initiated ANC visits late, and one-third (33.8%) received suboptimal ANC quality. A total of seven factors were associated with the suboptimal ANC. Mothers with lower education attainment, residing in rural areas, and those who received service at home, were more likely to attain three or less ANC visits, late initiation of ANC, and report receiving suboptimal ANC. Furthermore, mothers from poor family backgrounds appeared to initiate ANC late. Mothers from disadvantaged Madhesi communities tended to receive suboptimal ANC.

CONCLUSIONS

Despite a high ANC attendance, a significant proportion of mothers had initiated ANC late and received suboptimal care. There is a need to tailor ANC services to better support women from Madhesi ethnic community, as well as those with poor and less educated backgrounds to reduce the inequalities in maternal health care.

Decomposing inequality in Maternal and Child Health (MCH) services in Nepal

BACKGROUND

About 75.5% of women in Nepal's urban areas receive at least four ANC visits, compared to 61.7% of women in the country's rural areas. Similarly, just 34% of women in the lowest wealth quintile give birth in a medical facility compared to 90% of women in the richest group. As a result of this inequality, the poor in emerging nations suffer since those who are better off can make greater use of the healthcare than those who are less fortunate. This study aims to examine and decompose the contributions of various socioeconomic factors towards MCH service inequality in Nepal in the years 2011 and 2016.

METHODS

Inequality in MCH services was estimated using concentration curves and their corresponding indices using data from Nepal Demographic Health Survey (NDHS) 2011 and 2016. We examined the inequality across three MCH service outcomes: less than 4 ANC visits, no postnatal checkups within 2 months of delivery and no SBA delivery and decomposed them across observed characteristics of the mothers aged between 15 and 49. Furthermore, Oaxaca-blinder decomposition approach was used to measure and decompose the inequality differential between two time periods.

RESULTS

Inequality in MCH services was prevalent for all 3 MCH outcomes in 2011 and 2016, respectively. However, the concentration indices for <4 ANC visits, no SBA delivery, and no postnatal checkups within 2 months of birth increased from -0.2184, -0.1643, and -0.1284 to -0.1871, -0.0504, and -0.0218 correspondingly, showing the decrease in MCH services inequality over two time periods. Wealth index, women's literacy, place of living, mother's employment status, and problem of distance to reach nearest health facility were the main contributors.

CONCLUSION

We find that MCH services are clearly biased towards the women with higher living standards. National policies should focus on empowering women through education and employment, along with the creation of health facilities and improved educational institutions, in order to address inequalities in living standards, women's education levels, and the problem of distance. Leveraging these factors can reduce inequality in MCH services.

Input, process, and output factors contributing to quality of antenatal care services: a scoping review of evidence

BACKGROUND

High-quality antenatal care (ANC) provides a lifesaving opportunity for women and their newborns through providing health promotion, disease prevention, and early diagnosis and treatment of pregnancy-related health issues. However, systematically synthesised evidence on factors influencing the quality of ANC services is lacking. This scoping review aims to systematically synthesize the factors influencing in provision and utilisation of quality ANC services.

METHODS

We conducted a scoping review of published evidence on the quality of ANC services. We searched records on four databases (PubMed, Scopus, Embase, and Google scholar) and grey literature from 1 to 2011 to 30 August 2021. We analysed data using Braun and Clarke's thematic analysis approach. We followed Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) guideline for the review. We explained themes using the Donabedian healthcare quality assessment model (input-process-output).

RESULTS

Several inputs- and process-related factors contributed to suboptimal quality of ANC in many low and lower- or middle-income countries. Input factors included facility readiness (e.g., lack of infrastructure, provision of commodities and supplies, health workforce, structural and intermediary characteristics of pregnant women, and service delivery approaches). Processes-related factors included technical quality of care (e.g., lack of skilled adequate and timely care, and poor adherence to the guidelines) and social quality (lack of effective communication and poor client satisfaction). These input and process factors have also contributed to equity gaps in utilisation of quality ANC services.

CONCLUSION

Several input and process factors influenced the provision and utilization of optimum quality ANC services. Better health system inputs (e.g., availability of trained workforces, commodities, guidelines, context-specific programs) are essential to creating enabling facility environment for quality ANC services. Care processes can be improved by ensuring capacity-building activities for workforces (training, technical support visits), and mentoring staff working at peripheral facilities. Identifying coverage of quality ANC services among disadvantaged groups could be the initial step in designing and implementing targeted program approaches.