TY - JOUR T1 - Vouchers: A Hot Ticket for Reaching the Poor and Other Special Groups With Voluntary Family Planning Services JF - Global Health: Science and Practice JO - GLOB HEALTH SCI PRACT SP - 384 LP - 393 DO - 10.9745/GHSP-D-16-00084 VL - 4 IS - 3 AU - Elaine P Menotti AU - Marguerite Farrell Y1 - 2016/09/28 UR - http://www.ghspjournal.org/content/4/3/384.abstract N2 - Vouchers can be a highly effective tool to increase access to and use of family planning and reproductive health services, especially for special populations including the poor, youth, and postpartum women. Voucher programs need to include social and behavior change communication with clients and quality assurance for providers, whether in the private or public sector. In the longer term, voucher programs can strengthen health systems capacity and provide a pathway to strategic purchasing such as insurance or contracting.Vouchers are a form of results-based financing that have been used in many sectors, including the health sector, in low-, middle-, and high-income countries.1,2 Vouchers work as both financing mechanisms to ensure equity and programmatic tools to reduce barriers to access and increase use of critical health services. They are paper or electronic tickets that are distributed or sold to segments of the population who exchange them for health services at accredited facilities. To be accredited, a provider or outlet is generally reviewed against certain facility requirements and quality standards. When accompanied by social and behavior change activities and quality assurance approaches, including training, monitoring, supportive supervision, and site improvements, voucher programs can increase uptake of health services and improve service quality. A voucher program can also prepare a health system for strategic purchasing (e.g., insurance and contracting), engage the private sector, and protect the poor and other special groups. In the last decade, many countries in Asia and Africa have introduced medium- and large-scale voucher programs. We have an opportunity to learn from their experiences.Once established, a voucher program involves a series of transactions between key players.1,3–6 Key transactions include the following, as illustrated by the numbered arrows in Figure 1:A government or donor provides funding to the voucher management … ER -