Far from originating among Nigerien health policymakers at
MOH or elsewhere, the abolition of user fees for children below 5
years appears to have been a World Bank conditionality for releasing
budgetary assistance during negotiations with the Nigerien
ii90 Health Policy and Planning, 2015, Vol. 30, Supplement 2
Ministry of Finance in April 2006 (Ousseini 2011). Tandja was particularly
sensitive to such inducements following the 2005–06 food
crisis, which also created a crisis of government legitimacy (Ko¨rling
2011). Nigerien health authorities did not learn of the decision until
a senior MOH official was pulled out of a meeting to quickly write
up and sign the ministerial order (Ousseini 2011). Such hasty decision
making meant that planning for the reform was essentially nonexistent,
and today the state’s reimbursement system for health
facilities remains highly dysfunctional, plagued by double-billing
and poor record keeping, and is in arrears up to 20 billion CFA
(US$42 million) (Ousseini 2011; Ousseini and Kafando 2013).
Respondents said such insufficient technical and managerial preparation
for policy change was not unique to the decision on fee
exemptions: