This article focuses on the adverse effects
of health-care services user fees on maternal
health, providing a human rights perspective.
Complications during childbirth and pregnancy
are a main source of death and disability
among women of reproductive age, particularly
in developing countries. User fees were
introduced in the 1980s and promoted by the
World Bank as a solution to under-funded
public health care services that would
improve efficiency and equity by increasing
revenues. The authors argue that the user
fees have an adverse impact on maternal