Can vouchers deliver? An evaluation of subsidies for maternal health care in Cambodia

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of vouchers for maternity care in public health-care facilities on the utilization of maternal health-care services in Cambodia. METHODS: The study involved data from the 2010 Cambodian Demographic and Health Survey, which covered births between 2005 and 2010. The effect of voucher schemes, first implemented in 2007, on the utilization of maternal health-care services was quantified using a difference-in-differences method that compared changes in utilization in districts with voucher schemes with changes in districts without them. FINDINGS: Overall, voucher schemes were associated with an increase of 10.1 percentage points (pp) in the probability of delivery in a public health-care facility; among women from the poorest 40% of households, the increase was 15.6 pp. Vouchers were responsible for about one fifth of the increase observed in institutional deliveries in districts with schemes. Universal voucher schemes had a larger effect on the probability of delivery in a public facility than schemes targeting the poorest women. Both types of schemes increased the probability of receiving postnatal care, but the increase was significant only for non-poor women. Universal, but not targeted, voucher schemes significantly increased the probability of receiving antenatal care. CONCLUSION: Voucher schemes increased deliveries in health centres and, to a lesser extent, improved antenatal and postnatal care. However, schemes that targeted poorer women did not appear to be efficient since these women were more likely than less poor women to be encouraged to give birth in a public health-care facility, even with universal voucher schemes.

European guidelines for the development of mechanisms/tools supporting the individual demand for training through use of training Vouchers

El projecte de TAV es basa en la transferència d'un sistema de vals de capacitació, i en com aquest sistema de vals és adaptable a altres països o regions. En el document s'analitzen diferents conceptes teòrics sobre la conveniència o no de la implantació d'aquest sistema. A més a més, aquest document és una guia per a les organitzacions interessades en l'adaptació del sistema de vals formatius al seu territori, mostrant els passos a seguir i oferint eines útils per aconseguir-ho.

European guidelines for the development of mechanisms/tools supporting the individual demand for training through use of training Vouchers

El projecte de TAV es basa en la transferència d'un sistema de vals de capacitació, i en com aquest sistema de vals és adaptable a altres països o regions. En el document s'analitzen diferents conceptes teòrics sobre la conveniència o no de la implantació d'aquest sistema. A més a més, aquest document és una guia per a les organitzacions interessades en l'adaptació del sistema de vals formatius al seu territori, mostrant els passos a seguir i oferint eines útils per aconseguir-ho.

Voucher #7 from the Engineer Department of Port Dalhousie and Thorold Railway Extension to W.G. Thompson accompanied by an abstract of vouchers and summaries of account paid by W.G. Thompson for surveys, Jan. 31, 1857

Voucher #7 from the Engineer Department of Port Dalhousie and Thorold Railway Extension to W.G. Thompson accompanied by an abstract of vouchers and summaries of account paid by W.G. Thompson for surveys, Jan. 31, 1857.

Voucher #9 from the Engineer Department of Port Dalhousie and Thorold Railway Extension to W. G. Thompson accompanied by an abstract of vouchers for surveys, Feb. 28, 1857

Voucher #9 from the Engineer Department of Port Dalhousie and Thorold Railway Extension to W. G. Thompson accompanied by an abstract of vouchers for surveys, Feb. 28, 1857

Envelope addressed to S.D. Woodruff at the Welland Canal Office regarding pay roll vouchers for – the envelope was empty, July, 1857

Envelope addressed to S.D. Woodruff at the Welland Canal Office regarding pay roll vouchers for – the envelope was empty, July, 1857.

Aplicação de vouchers para incentivo a educação no Brasil

Este trabalho busca analisar os fundamentos teóricos do sistema de voucher educacional, o qual consiste no subsídio oferecido pelo Estado para o pagamento da escola desejada, pela família, para seus dependentes diretamente através deste vale, suas vantagens, desvantagens e características essenciais para uma boa modelagem. Relata estudos de caso para dois países da América Latina: Colômbia e Chile, comparando os resultados destes dois programas em termos abrangência e melhora da educação. Com base no Relatório de Monitoramento de Educação para Todos Brasil 2008 da Unesco analisa a atual situação do Brasil e os principais programas para melhoria e expansão da educação. Por último, apresenta um estudo de viabilidade do sistema de voucher, para o Rio de Janeiro, comparando a média dos gastos públicos em educação por aluno com as mensalidades de algumas escolas privadas da cidade.

Mobility, targeting and private school vouchers

This paper uses general equilibrium simulations to explore the role ofresidential mobility in shaping the impact of different types of private school voucher policies. In particular, general vouchers available to all residents in the state are compared to vouchers specifically targeted to either underprivileged school districts or underprivileged households. The simulations are derived from a three-community mo deI of low, middle and high income school districts (calibrated to New York data), where each school district is composed of multiple types of neighborhoods that may vary in house quality as well as the leveI of neighborhood extemalities. Households that differ in both their income and in the ability leveI of their children choose between school districts, between neighborhoods within their school district, and between the local public school or a menu of private school altematives.Local public school quality within a district is endogenously determined bya combination of the average peer quality of public school attending children as well as local property and state income tax supported spending. Financial support (above a required state minimum) is set by local majority rule. Finally, there exists the potential for a private school market composed of competitive schools that face production technologies similar to those ofpublic schools but who set tuition and admissions policies to maximize profits. In tbis model, it is demonstrated that school district targeted vouchers are similar in their impact to non-targeted vouchers but vastIy different from vouchers targeted to low income households. Furthermore, strong migration effects are shown to significantly improve the likely equity consequences of voucher programs.

Universal Vouchers and White Flight

Opponents of school vouchers often argue that school vouchers will lead to 'white flight' from public schools that are disproportionately nonwhite, creating more racially segregated schools. However, recent studies that examine white flight from public schools into private schools have produced conflicting evidence on whether or not white flight actually exists. In this paper, we present new evidence on whether universal vouchers will lead to more racially segregated schools. Specifically, we use data on vote outcomes from a state-wide universal voucher initiative to estimate the likelihood that white households with children currently in public schools will use vouchers to switch out of more-integrated schools. Our results indicate that white households with children attending schools with large concentrations of nonwhite schoolchildren are significantly more likely to support school vouchers, an effect that is absent for non-white households with children and households without children. However, it also does not appear to be race, per se, that is the primary concern, but other school factors that are correlated with race, such as test scores and limited English proficiency.

Faith, doubt, and evidence. God's vouchers for his written word, with critical illustrations from the autobiography of Dr. Franklin.

Mode of access: Internet.

Health services performance for TB treatment in Brazil: a cross-sectional study

Background: Researches to evaluate Primary Health Care performance in TB control in Brazil show that different cities aggregate local specificities in the dynamics of coping with the disease. This study aims to evaluate health services' performance in TB treatment in cities across different Brazilian regions. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in five cities that are considered priorities for TB control in Brazil: Itaborai (ITA), Ribeirao Preto (RP) and Sao Jose do Rio Preto (SJRP) in the Southeast; Campina Grande (CG) and Feira de Santana (FS) in the Northeast. Data were collected through interviews with 514 TB patients under treatment in 2007, using the Primary Care Assessment Tool adapted for TB care in Brazil. Indicators were constructed based on the mean response scores (Likert scale) and compared among the study sites. Results: ""Access to treatment"" was evaluated as satisfactory in the Southeast and regular in the Northeast, which displayed poor results on 'home visits' and 'distance between treatment site and patient's house'. ""Bond"" was assessed as satisfactory in all cities, with a slightly better performance in RP and SJRP. ""Range of services"" was rated as regular, with better performance of southeastern cities. 'Health education', 'DOT' and 'food vouchers' were less offered in the Northeast. ""Coordination"" was evaluated as satisfactory in all cities. ""Family focus"" was evaluated as satisfactory in RP and SJRP, and regular in the others. 'Professional asking patient's family about other health problems' was evaluated as unsatisfactory, except in RP. Conclusions: Two types of obstacles are faced for health service performance in TB treatment in the cities under analysis, mainly in the Northeast. The first is structural and derives from difficulties to access health services and actions. The second is organizational and derives from the way health technologies and services are distributed and integrated. Incentives to improve care organization and management practices, aimed at the integration of primary, secondary and tertiary services, can contribute towards a better performance of health services in TB treatment.

New records of Rhagomys rufescens (Rodentia : Sigmodontinae) in the Atlantic forest of Brazil

Since it was trapped in the XIX(th) century, Rhagomys rufescens has been considered a rare endangered sigmodontine rodent and an endemic species of the Atlantic forest. Only a handful of vouchers of this taxon were known by Thomas, 1886. Recently, eight new individuals were collected, providing new geographical, morphological and phylogenetic (based on molecular evidence) information on this species. In the present work we report the southernmost occurrence record for R. rufescens at Indaial, Santa Catarina State, with the largest collected series of this species, the northernmost occurrence record at Santa Teresa, Espirito Santo State, and new records from Pocos de Caldas, Minas Gerais State, from Ibiuna and Ribeirao Grande, Sao Paulo State.