Abstract

Background: As family planning programs mature and the requirements for the resources expand, research is required to shed light on cost analysis of the program. A recent World Bank study has focused on the financing and cost effective - ness of the Indian family planning program.
Objective: The objective of this study is to determine the unit cost of a family planning program provided at the primary health centers (PHCs) and to examine the variations in unit cost in different PHCs. Methods and Material: The present study was carried out in three PHCs of Ahmedabad district, namely Sanathal, Nandej, and Uperdal, between April 1, 2006 and March 31, 2007. For estimating the cost of a health program, information on all the physical and human resources that were basic inputs to the PHC services were collected and grouped into two categories: non-recurrent (capital resources vehicles, buildings, etc.) and recurrent resources (salaries, contraceptives, maintenance, etc.). To generate the required data, two types of schedules were developed: daily time schedule and PHC/ SC (subcenter) information schedule.
Results: The unit cost of utilizing family planning method works out to be highest at Nandej PHC ( 267.68) and ` lowest at Uperdal PHC ( 190.44), followed by ( 194.12) at Sanathal PHC. The high cost at Nandej PHC is due to low ` ` utilization of the family planning service.
Conclusions: Increasing the coverage of health services is a key to reduce the unit cost. Personnel costs account for the maximum share of the total cost. Hence, efforts should be made to have a judicious use of personnel.