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Article History

Received: 30 March 2016

Accepted: 28 December 2017

First Online: 29 January 2018

Authors’ information

: The current study is a situational analysis for the implementation of a five-year research project aimed at improving maternal health services performance using social accountability mechanisms. The project is being run by the National Institute for Public Health in Burundi in partnership with Vrije University of Amsterdam and the Royal Tropical Institute of Amsterdam.Further partners of the project are two international non-governmental organizations running projects within the health sector in Burundi: Care International and CORDAID. The research team therefore consists of people working in those institutions. NP NP is a PhD student at Vrije University of Amsterdam and a staff member of the National Institute for Public Health in Burundi.Postal address: National Institute for Public Health, Avenue de l’hôpital 3, Bujumbura, Burundi.E-mail: niyopro@yahoo.fr RD Renate Douwes is a programme officer at SIMAVI (a non-governmental organization) in the Netherlands.Postal address: Fonteinlaan 5, 2012 JG Haarlem, The Netherlands. E-mail: renate.douwes@hotmail.com MD Marjolein Dieleman is a senior researcher at the Royal Tropical Institute of Amsterdam and at the Vrije University of Amsterdam.Postal address: Royal Tropical Institute, Mauritskade 63, 1092 AD Amsterdam, The Netherlands.E-Mail: m.dieleman@kit.nl IF Irambona Frédéric is an officer for the project entitled “Sexual and reproductive health for a new generation “currently being carried out by CORDAID in Burundi. He is in charge of monitoring and evaluating activities within the project. He is the focal person within CORDAID for its partnership with the Burundian National Institute for Public Health.Postal address: ROHERO I, Avenue du Marché, PO Box 6701, Bujumbura, Burundi. E-mail: Frederic.irambona@cordaid.net MJ Mategeko Jimmy is a staff member of Care International Burundi in charge of knowledge translation.Postal address: Care International, Mwezi Gisabo Street 30, Bujumbura, Burundi.E-mail: jimmy.mategeko@co.care.org NG Nsengiyumva Georges is a senior researcher at the Burundian National Institute for Public Health.Postal address: National Institute for Public Health, Avenue de l’hôpital 3, Bujumbura, Burundi. PO Box 6807, Bujumbura.E-mail: georges.nsengiyumva@gmail.com DCBT Tjard De Cock Buning is a professor at the Athena Institute within Vrije University of Amsterdam.Postal address: Athena Institute, VU University of Amsterdam, De Boelelaan 1085, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands.E-mail: tjard.de.cockbuning@vu.nl

: Ethical approval was obtained from the Burundian national ethical committee. Interviews were conducted in an isolated and quiet place to ensure confidentiality. Anonymity was ensured by using codes instead of names of the people involved. Women were interviewed by female researchers. The women were informed about associations providing moral and psychological support if they had difficult or painful memories related to experiences with maternal health services.Informed verbal consent and agreement to record the interview were obtained from the participants before interviewing. The ethical committee had made obtaining the consent to participate orally or in a written form a mandatory ethical requirement for the study. Given the high level of illiteracy within Burundian rural areas, researchers chose to use the verbal consent.The participants were also informed about their right to stop the interview at any time.

: Consent for the publication of raw data was deemed unnecessary as the dataset ensures sufficient anonymity with no possibility to identify study participants. This can be verified by any user of the dataset.

: The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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