Using accountability to improve reproductive health care

Accountability is best understood as a referee of the dynamics in two-way relationships, often between unequal partners. The literature on accountability distinguishes between political, fiscal, administrative, legal and constitutional accountability. This paper focuses on accountability mechanisms in health care and how they mediate between service providers and communities and between different kinds of health personnel at the primary health care level. It refers to case studies of participatory processes for improving sexual and reproductive health service delivery. Information, dialogue and negotiation are important elements that enable accountability mechanisms to address problems by supporting change and engagement between participants. In order to succeed, however, efforts towards better accountability that broaden the participation of users must take into account the social contexts and the policy and service delivery systems in which they are applied, address power relations and improve the representation of marginalised groups within communities and service delivery systems.