Lessons From Results-Based Financing to Improve Health Services in Afghanistan

The Afghanistan experience of nearly 15 years of contracting for health services has demonstrated both how results-based financing (RBF) can serve to increase utilisation of health services and the equity in use, as well as the limitations and failings of RBF approaches to work consistently. Future Health Systems (FHS) findings, generated through robust experimental and quasi-experimental studies in a rapidly changing context, suggests that attention to scheme design (especially to address demand side concerns, supply side capabilities, and the size and mechanisms of payments) and implementation (timeliness and communication about payments) are critical.