Local people assume responsibility for their health service - The experience of the Mahankal Health Service Management Committee, Nepal

This article will describe the activities of the Baudha Bahunipati Family W elfare Project (BBP), which was set up by the national level NGO Family Pla nning Association of Nepal (FPAN) in 1973, initially to distribute contrace ptives and provide a basic medical service. In the districts in which it op erates, the BBP set in motion a process of initiating bottom-up planning, h anding over responsibility to locally formed NGOs, and creating a sustainab le programmes of local activities. Several NGOs have resulted from this pro cess; however this article describes in more detail the experiences of one of them: the Mahankal Health Service Management Committee (MHSMC) and how i t became financially self-supporting through charging for medicines and ser vices.