Accreditation of Private Sector Health Facilities for Provision of Comprehensive Abortion Care Services: An Initiative of the Government of Bihar

Recognizing the need to increase access to safe abortion services to reduce maternal mortality and morbidity, in 2011 the Government of Bihar developed a new mechanism of accrediting and subsidizing private health care facilities. The program, Yukti Yojana (“a scheme for solution”), accredits eligible health facilities and supports them in providing abortion-related services free of charge to low-income women. This is the first PPP model in India to ensure access to safe abortion services free of cost at accredited private facilities. This study evaluates the efficacy of the first phase of intervention for scaling up further and replicating the same model in other states.