Evidence-based budgeting policy in maternal and child health programme: do they work?

Background Despite Indonesia’s health status improvement over the last decade, special efforts to achieve the MDGs goals are still warranted, especially in maternal, neonatal, and child health (MNCH). However, the current centrally driven MNCH policies do not address the geographical disparities and the different constraints faced by Indonesian provinces and districts. Moreover, the MNCH slow progress may have been hindered by various funding constraints, for example small local budget allocation specifically for MNCH, lack of evidence-based budget planning leading to unsound health planning and implementation. Therefore, this study aims to assess the current health financing mechanism used in one of Indonesian Province of Papua, that has low MNCH outcome.