| Resumen: |
With the Argentine economic crisis in 2001, the population living in poverty increased dramatically, inequity worsened, and more people became medically uninsured. As a result, health indicators, including child and maternal mortality rates, deteriorated sharply in the poorest regions, and national averages worsened. In response, the Government of Argentina implemented the innovative Maternal-Child Health Insurance Program, known as Plan Nacer, which helped to introduce innovative changes in Argentina’s health system. Plan Nacer became a powerful tool in increasing coverage of basic services among the uninsured population and improving the governance and efficiency of the health system.
Plan Nacer aimed to reduce the maternal and child mortality of uninsured pregnant women and children through highly innovative results-based financing mechanisms at the national, provincial, and provider levels. Specifically, the program links funding to the achievement of three types of results indicators: enrolment in the program, effective delivery of priority health services, and health outcomes. In addition, Plan Nacer contributed to strengthening the governance and stewardship function of the national government in a federal context where health services provision is decentralized at the provincial level. These instruments comprise legally binding contracts between the national government and the provinces and between the provinces and health service providers, and encompass a robust monitoring and evaluation framework, which includes external and internal audits and an impact evaluation strategy. |
