Nepal Aama Programme

Nepal's Aama Programme, formally the Aama Surakshya Karyakram or Safer Mother Programme, grew out of a Safe Delivery Incentive Program introduced nationwide in 2005 to raise the number of births attended by skilled professionals, and was reformed and extended to include not-for-profit health institutions under its current name starting in January 2009. The programme made childbirth care free across Nepal's health facilities and pairs that with direct cash payments: women who complete four antenatal care visits at four, six, eight and nine months of pregnancy receive an incentive on top of a transport payment for delivering at a facility, set at 1,500 Nepali rupees in mountain districts, 1,000 rupees in hill districts and 500 rupees in the low-lying Tarai region, while health workers separately receive 300 rupees for every delivery they attend, whether a normal birth, a complicated delivery or a caesarean section, and whether it takes place at home or in a facility. The programme's stated goal is to reduce maternal and neonatal illness and death by removing the financial barriers that keep women from seeking professional care before, during and after childbirth.