Behavioural economic analysis of reproductive health in Burkina Faso and Tanzania 2016-2019

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Sexual and reproductive health rights have gained importance over the last three decades. Despite the growing availability of reproductive health services, the uptake of these services remains inadequate among women in low-income countries. One of the main causes of the inadequate uptake of reproductive health services is women's weak control over pregnancy-related decisions. When and how many children to have, and whether and where to seek pre-natal, delivery and post-natal care, are crucial decisions that may shape an important pathway into or out of extreme poverty. To identify policy initiatives that can break the vicious circle between women's low empowerment, poor reproductive health and poverty, this project studies the decision-making processes around the use of reproductive health services. For this, it collected data in Burkina Faso and Tanzania on the uptake of reproductive health services as well as the decision-making process by married or co-habiting couples.

The proposed research will contribute to answering the first overarching question of this call "What factors shape pathways into and out of poverty and people's experience of these, and how can policy create sustained routes out of extreme poverty in ways that can be replicated and scaled up?" The project will do so by focusing on the low or inadequate uptake of reproductive health services in sub-Saharan Africa which directly influences the health and survival prospects of women and their children, as well as their economic participation and poverty. Despite the growing availability of reproductive health services, the uptake of these services remains inadequate among the poorest in society. The research is timely because achieving 'universal access to reproductive health' was one of the Millennium Development Goals on which least progress was made in sub-Saharan Africa. The new Social Development Goals which will form the basis of the post-2015 development agenda have recognized this slow progress and have included updated reproductive health targets.