Understanding contracting in Cambodia: findings from interviews with key informants and health service managers and providers
This research report describes findings from the qualitative component of ReBUILD’s research into health contracting in Cambodia
Over the last two decades, Cambodia has implemented several policy initiatives and interventions to improve health service delivery. The contracting of services in the health sector has been happening since the late 1990s. Since 2009, an internal contracting model, Special Operating Agencies (SOA), with performance incentives, monitoring mechanisms and a greater level of autonomy for district health management has been followed.
This study aims to address research gaps on the drivers for change in contracting models, and on the current contracting arrangement in Cambodia. It seeks to understand the change process in health contracting arrangements in Cambodia by identifying the drivers for change and to document the implementation processes of the current SOA contracting model. Lastly, it examines the perceived implications of the SOA on service coverage and equity. This report presents findings from the qualitative methods conducted in this study.