Confluence of Health and Financial Policies for Development: A Study of Collaborative Governance in Maternal Health Delivery

ABSTRACT

Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) is a public health programme in India involving multiple stakeholders across sectors with the common goal of reducing mother and infant mortality by boosting institutional deliveries. Under JSY, pregnant women receive financial assistance in the form of cash transfers into their bank accounts. Using data from the latest National Family Health Survey providing a sample of 15,968 poor women, we show that Financial inclusivity is associated with greater uptake of JSY. Our research highlights the inter-relatedness of health and financial sector policies, signifying the need to address citizen-centric development beyond the silos of schemes.

KEYWORDS:

• Collaborative governance
• maternal health
• financial inclusion
• economic empowerment
• institutional delivery

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to the editors and two anonymous reviews of the journal for helpful comments.

Disclosure statement

This research makes use of NFHS data from the Demographic and Health Survey (DHS). This dataset can be accessed by registering, authorizing, and providing information about the criteria and circumstances for utilizing the data. The Ethical Review Board of the International Institute of Population Studies has given its clearance to NFHS. As a result, this research is based on confidential publicly accessible data and does not reveal any personally identifiable information about survey participants.

Notes

1. https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/india/more-indian-women-use-bank-accounts-participate-in-decision-making-survey-7764641.html.

2. 1 USD = 81.77 INR, as on January 31^st 2023.