Output-Based Aid in Health: The Argentine Maternal-Child Health Insurance Program

To fight infant mortality in the poorest provinces of Argentina, local authorities and the World Bank set up the Maternal-Child Health Insurance Program in 2004. The program is administered by provincial governments, which receive funding on the basis of the numbers of mothers and children enrolled and the performance on results-based “tracers”—sets of indicators measuring service delivery and quality. The services are provided by existing health care facilities, which receive a standard payment per patient and per service provided. The health care facilities compete on the basis of quality.