Abel Bicaba
Biographic Data
| ID | 1727745 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Abel Bicaba |
| GIVEN NAMES | Abel |
| FAMILY NAME | Bicaba |
| SIGNATURE | BICABA A |
| AFFILIATIONS | Institut de Recherche en Sciences de la Santé |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-2301-8644 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 16 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 22 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 16 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2009 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Operationalizing the One Health approach at the intersection of research and development
Small-scale livestock farming remains central to food security and income-generation in several low and middle countries (LMIC), but it can also be an important source of zoonoses in areas where access to water and sanitation is poor. The role played by women in this sector is often overlooked. ELUZO is an international, intersectoral, and multidisciplinary One Health project that aims to reduce the impact of zoonotic diseases and empower women i…
Impact of the free healthcare policies in Burkina Faso
The article recently published by Aye et al. (2024) in Health Policy and Planning is a major contribution to understanding the medium-term (5 years) effects of the free healthcare policy introduced in 2016 in Burkina Faso. The study makes rigorous use of interrupted time series with a nonequivalent control group and presents a wealth of information on the methodology used. Remarkably, numerous sensitivity analyses were conducted to strengthen the…
Change in childbearing intention, use of contraception, unwanted pregnancies, and related adverse events during the Covid-19 pandemic
Evidence on how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected women’s reproductive health remains scarce, particularly for low- and middle-income countries. Deleterious indirect effects seem likely, particularly on access to contraception and risk of unwanted pregnancies, but rigorous evaluations using quasi-experimental designs are lacking. Taking a diachronic perspective, we aimed to investigate the effects of the pandemic on four indicators of women’s re…
Measurement of self-reported, facility-based labour and birth experiences
Background: Women and their families make decisions on accessing perinatal care based on their experiences in the health care system and on the experience of others around them. Receiving supportive maternity care which demonstrates respect is an essential part of quality care. Globally, and in low- and middle-income countries in particular, women report receiving mistreatment and a lack of respect during labour, childbirth and the early postnata…
Does abolishing user fees for family planning increase contraception use? An impact evaluation of the national policy in Burkina Faso
Background: Unmet needs for contraception constitute a major public health problem in sub-Saharan Africa. Several mechanisms have been tested to reduce the financial barrier and facilitate access to family planning services, with inconclusive results. Based on the positive impacts following the introduction of free health care for pregnant women, Burkina Faso decided to extend its national policy and abolished direct payment for family planning s…
Effects of terrorist attacks on access to maternal healthcare services
INTRODUCTION: Most of the literature on terrorist attacks' health impacts has focused on direct victims rather than on distal consequences in the overall population. There is limited knowledge on how terrorist attacks can be detrimental to access to healthcare services. The objective of this study is to assess the impact of terrorist attacks on the utilisation of maternal healthcare services by examining the case of Burkina Faso. METHODS: This lo…
National user fee abolition and health insurance scheme in Burkina Faso
Effect of interrupting free healthcare for children
Effect of a policy to reduce user fees on the rate of skilled birth attendance across socioeconomic strata in Burkina Faso
BACKGROUND: In Sub-Saharan Africa, maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality rates are associated with underutilization of skilled birth attendance (SBA). In 2007, Burkina Faso introduced a subsidy scheme for SBA fees. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of Burkina Faso's subsidy policy on SBA rate across socioeconomic status (SES) strata. METHODS: We used a quasi-experimental design. The data sources were two representativ…
Challenges of scaling up and of knowledge transfer in an action research project in Burkina Faso to exempt the worst-off from health care user fees
BACKGROUND: Systems to exempt the indigent from user fees have been put in place to prevent the worst-off from being excluded from health care services for lack of funds. Yet the implementation of these mechanisms is as rare as the operational research on this topic. This article analyzes an action research project aimed at finding an appropriate solution to make health care accessible to the indigent in a rural district of Burkina Faso. RESEARCH…
The national subsidy for deliveries and emergency obstetric care in Burkina Faso
INTRODUCTION: To reduce financial barriers to health care services presented by user fees, Burkina Faso adopted a policy to subsidize deliveries and emergency obstetric care for the period 2006-2015. Deliveries and caesarean sections are subsidized at 80%; women must pay the remainder. The worst-off are fully exempted. METHODS The aim of this article is to document this policy's entire process using a health policy analytical framework. Qualitati…
Low coverage but few inclusion errors in Burkina Faso
The community-based process minimized inclusion biases, as the people selected were poorer and more vulnerable than the rest of the population. However, there were significant exclusion biases; the selection was very restrictive because the exemption had to be endogenously funded
Heterogeneity in the validity of administrative-based estimates of immunization coverage across health districts in Burkina Faso
BACKGROUND: Data aggregation in national information systems begins at the district level. Decentralization has given districts a lead role in health planning and management, therefore validity of administrative-based estimates at that level is important to improve the performance of immunization information systems. OBJECTIVE: To assess the validity of administrative-based immunization estimates and their usability for planning and monitoring ac…
A community-based targeting approach to exempt the worst-off from user fees in Burkina Faso
BACKGROUND: To contend with the risk of exclusion created by user fees, those implementing the Bamako Initiative (BI) were asked to organise exemption schemes for the indigent. But those exemption schemes were never put in place in Africa due to difficulties identifying the indigent. An action research was implemented to test the hypothesis that a community-based process for selecting beneficiaries of user-fee exemptions in an African environment…
Monitoring the performance of the Expanded Program on Immunization
BACKGROUND: The greatest challenge facing expanded programs on immunization in general, and in Burkina Faso in particular, lies in their capacity to achieve and sustain levels of immunization coverage that will ensure effective protection of children. This article aims to demonstrate that full immunization coverage of children, which is the primary indicator for monitoring national immunization programs, is sufficient neither to evaluate their pe…
System-level determinants of immunization coverage disparities among health districts in Burkina Faso
BACKGROUND: Despite rapid and tangible progress in vaccine coverage and in premature mortality rates registered in sub-Saharan Africa, inequities to access remain firmly entrenched, large pockets of low vaccination coverage persist, and coverage often varies considerably across regions, districts, and health facilities' areas of responsibility. This paper focuses on system-related factors that can explain disparities in immunization coverage amon…
The national subsidy for deliveries and emergency obstetric care in Burkina Faso
INTRODUCTION: To reduce financial barriers to health care services presented by user fees, Burkina Faso adopted a policy to subsidize deliveries and emergency obstetric care for the period 2006-2015. Deliveries and caesarean sections are subsidized at 80%; women must pay the remainder. The worst-off are fully exempted. METHODS The aim of this article is to document this policy's entire process using a health policy analytical framework. Qualitati…
A community-based targeting approach to exempt the worst-off from user fees in Burkina Faso
BACKGROUND: To contend with the risk of exclusion created by user fees, those implementing the Bamako Initiative (BI) were asked to organise exemption schemes for the indigent. But those exemption schemes were never put in place in Africa due to difficulties identifying the indigent. An action research was implemented to test the hypothesis that a community-based process for selecting beneficiaries of user-fee exemptions in an African environment…
Effect of interrupting free healthcare for children
Effect of a policy to reduce user fees on the rate of skilled birth attendance across socioeconomic strata in Burkina Faso
BACKGROUND: In Sub-Saharan Africa, maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality rates are associated with underutilization of skilled birth attendance (SBA). In 2007, Burkina Faso introduced a subsidy scheme for SBA fees. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of Burkina Faso's subsidy policy on SBA rate across socioeconomic status (SES) strata. METHODS: We used a quasi-experimental design. The data sources were two representativ…
Monitoring the performance of the Expanded Program on Immunization
BACKGROUND: The greatest challenge facing expanded programs on immunization in general, and in Burkina Faso in particular, lies in their capacity to achieve and sustain levels of immunization coverage that will ensure effective protection of children. This article aims to demonstrate that full immunization coverage of children, which is the primary indicator for monitoring national immunization programs, is sufficient neither to evaluate their pe…
System-level determinants of immunization coverage disparities among health districts in Burkina Faso
BACKGROUND: Despite rapid and tangible progress in vaccine coverage and in premature mortality rates registered in sub-Saharan Africa, inequities to access remain firmly entrenched, large pockets of low vaccination coverage persist, and coverage often varies considerably across regions, districts, and health facilities' areas of responsibility. This paper focuses on system-related factors that can explain disparities in immunization coverage amon…
Low coverage but few inclusion errors in Burkina Faso
The community-based process minimized inclusion biases, as the people selected were poorer and more vulnerable than the rest of the population. However, there were significant exclusion biases; the selection was very restrictive because the exemption had to be endogenously funded
Heterogeneity in the validity of administrative-based estimates of immunization coverage across health districts in Burkina Faso
BACKGROUND: Data aggregation in national information systems begins at the district level. Decentralization has given districts a lead role in health planning and management, therefore validity of administrative-based estimates at that level is important to improve the performance of immunization information systems. OBJECTIVE: To assess the validity of administrative-based immunization estimates and their usability for planning and monitoring ac…
A community-based targeting approach to exempt the worst-off from user fees in Burkina Faso
BACKGROUND: To contend with the risk of exclusion created by user fees, those implementing the Bamako Initiative (BI) were asked to organise exemption schemes for the indigent. But those exemption schemes were never put in place in Africa due to difficulties identifying the indigent. An action research was implemented to test the hypothesis that a community-based process for selecting beneficiaries of user-fee exemptions in an African environment…
Challenges of scaling up and of knowledge transfer in an action research project in Burkina Faso to exempt the worst-off from health care user fees
BACKGROUND: Systems to exempt the indigent from user fees have been put in place to prevent the worst-off from being excluded from health care services for lack of funds. Yet the implementation of these mechanisms is as rare as the operational research on this topic. This article analyzes an action research project aimed at finding an appropriate solution to make health care accessible to the indigent in a rural district of Burkina Faso. RESEARCH…
The national subsidy for deliveries and emergency obstetric care in Burkina Faso
INTRODUCTION: To reduce financial barriers to health care services presented by user fees, Burkina Faso adopted a policy to subsidize deliveries and emergency obstetric care for the period 2006-2015. Deliveries and caesarean sections are subsidized at 80%; women must pay the remainder. The worst-off are fully exempted. METHODS The aim of this article is to document this policy's entire process using a health policy analytical framework. Qualitati…
Effect of a policy to reduce user fees on the rate of skilled birth attendance across socioeconomic strata in Burkina Faso
BACKGROUND: In Sub-Saharan Africa, maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality rates are associated with underutilization of skilled birth attendance (SBA). In 2007, Burkina Faso introduced a subsidy scheme for SBA fees. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of Burkina Faso's subsidy policy on SBA rate across socioeconomic status (SES) strata. METHODS: We used a quasi-experimental design. The data sources were two representativ…
Effect of interrupting free healthcare for children
Effects of terrorist attacks on access to maternal healthcare services
INTRODUCTION: Most of the literature on terrorist attacks' health impacts has focused on direct victims rather than on distal consequences in the overall population. There is limited knowledge on how terrorist attacks can be detrimental to access to healthcare services. The objective of this study is to assess the impact of terrorist attacks on the utilisation of maternal healthcare services by examining the case of Burkina Faso. METHODS: This lo…
National user fee abolition and health insurance scheme in Burkina Faso
Change in childbearing intention, use of contraception, unwanted pregnancies, and related adverse events during the Covid-19 pandemic
Evidence on how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected women’s reproductive health remains scarce, particularly for low- and middle-income countries. Deleterious indirect effects seem likely, particularly on access to contraception and risk of unwanted pregnancies, but rigorous evaluations using quasi-experimental designs are lacking. Taking a diachronic perspective, we aimed to investigate the effects of the pandemic on four indicators of women’s re…
Measurement of self-reported, facility-based labour and birth experiences
Background: Women and their families make decisions on accessing perinatal care based on their experiences in the health care system and on the experience of others around them. Receiving supportive maternity care which demonstrates respect is an essential part of quality care. Globally, and in low- and middle-income countries in particular, women report receiving mistreatment and a lack of respect during labour, childbirth and the early postnata…
Does abolishing user fees for family planning increase contraception use? An impact evaluation of the national policy in Burkina Faso
Background: Unmet needs for contraception constitute a major public health problem in sub-Saharan Africa. Several mechanisms have been tested to reduce the financial barrier and facilitate access to family planning services, with inconclusive results. Based on the positive impacts following the introduction of free health care for pregnant women, Burkina Faso decided to extend its national policy and abolished direct payment for family planning s…
Impact of the free healthcare policies in Burkina Faso
The article recently published by Aye et al. (2024) in Health Policy and Planning is a major contribution to understanding the medium-term (5 years) effects of the free healthcare policy introduced in 2016 in Burkina Faso. The study makes rigorous use of interrupted time series with a nonequivalent control group and presents a wealth of information on the methodology used. Remarkably, numerous sensitivity analyses were conducted to strengthen the…
Operationalizing the One Health approach at the intersection of research and development
Small-scale livestock farming remains central to food security and income-generation in several low and middle countries (LMIC), but it can also be an important source of zoonoses in areas where access to water and sanitation is poor. The role played by women in this sector is often overlooked. ELUZO is an international, intersectoral, and multidisciplinary One Health project that aims to reduce the impact of zoonotic diseases and empower women i…
Medicine (14 works) · Environmental health (13 works) · Global Maternal and Child Health (13 works) · Economic growth (12 works) · Health care (9 works) · Healthcare Systems and Reforms (9 works) · Nursing (8 works) · Population (8 works) · Public health (8 works) · Business (7 works)