Mutual Health Organisations (MHOs) and Reproductive Health (RH)

Excerpted from the brief

Community-Based Health Financing (CBHF) schemes, called Mutual Health Organisations(MHOs) in West Africa, believe that MHOs have the potential to increase access to reproductive health (RH) services, both by offering these services in their benefits packages and promoting their use among MHO members.

The [four-page] brief provides an overview of MHOs, describes findings of a study in Senegal that examined current MHO coverage of RH services, and recommends how MHOs can be used to promote these services.

A qualitative study of MHOs was conducted in Senegal, examining specific factors that influence the decision to include RH and family planning services and commodities in benefit packages and/or health promotion activities. Based on the study’s findings, interventions will be designed for use by technical assistance personnel to help MHOs expand the coverage and promotion of such services and commodities.