"background": "Community health centres are a cornerstone of primary healthcare delivery in many African nations, yet robust quantitative evidence of their impact on specific clinical outcomes remains limited. This gap complicates evidence-based policy and resource allocation. ", "purpose and objectives": "This case study aimed to rigorously evaluate the causal effect of a national community health centre programme on maternal and child health outcomes, specifically antenatal care completion and childhood immunisation rates. ", "methodology": "We employed a quasi-experimental difference-in-differences design, leveraging the phased rollout of the programme across districts. The core statistical model is Y{dt = \0 + \1 (\) + \ + \ +, where Ydt is the outcome in district d and period t, \ and \ₜ are district and time fixed effects, and inference is based on cluster-robust standard errors. ", "findings": "The intervention was associated with a statistically significant increase in the proportion of women completing four or more antenatal visits, with an estimated effect of 8. 7 percentage points (95% CI: 2. 1, 15. 3). No statistically significant effect was detected for full childhood immunisation rates within the study period. ", "conclusion": "The community health centre programme successfully improved antenatal care utilisation, demonstrating its effectiveness for this targeted outcome. The null finding for immunisation suggests programme mechanisms may affect service areas differently. ", "recommendations": "Policymakers should sustain investment in community-based primary care while strengthening programme components targeting immunisation delivery. Future evaluations should incorporate cost-effectiveness analyses and explore heterogeneous effects across sub-regions. ", "key words": "difference-in-differences, health systems evaluation, primary healthcare, maternal health, quasi-experimental design, health policy", "contribution statement": "This study provides a novel application of
Asare et al. (Fri,) studied this question.