Government predominance in maternal health care financing in Beijing and Shanghai: a comparison analysis

Abstract

Objective To examine changing trend and regional disparity in the insufficiency of government predominance in maternal health care financing and the maternal mortality ratio (MMR) in Beijing and Shanghai during 2000 to 2017 for exploring a rational government predominance in maternal health care financing. Methods Documents and literatures about maternal health care financing in Beijing and Shanghai published from 1995 through 2017 were searched; from which, the information on government predominance financing was extracted and the insufficiency of government predominance in maternal health care financing was evaluated with a severity score. Spearman correlation and linear regression analysis were used to analyze the relationship between the insufficiency of government predominance financing and MMR in the two municipalities. Results The severity score for the insufficiency of government predominance in maternal health care financing decreased from 3.58 in 2000 to 2.82 in 2017 in Beijing municipality; while in Shanghai the severity score decreased from 3.72 to 1.44. A significant correlation between the MMR and the severity score was observed in both Shanghai municipality (r = 0.723, P Conclusion The government predominance in maternal health care financing increased during 2000 – 2017 in Beijing and Shanghai municipality and the government predominance financing has a more obvious influence on the reduction of maternal mortality ratio in Shanghai municipality.