We Shouldn’t Count Chickens Before They Hatch: Results-Based Financing and the Challenges of Cost-Effectiveness Analysis

Results-based financing (RBF) is subject to fierce debate and the evidence base on its cost-effectiveness is scarce. To our knowledge, only one cost-effectiveness study of RBF in a lower-middle-income country has been published in a peer-reviewed journal. That study – in Zambia – concludes that RBF is cost-effective, which was then uncritically repeated in an editorial accompanying its release.