Community health centers in Uganda have been established to improve access to healthcare services, but their cost-effectiveness has not been rigorously evaluated. A DiD approach was employed to analyse data from two time periods before and after the establishment of community health centers. The study utilised control and treatment groups to measure changes in healthcare utilization and cost savings within these centers. The analysis revealed a significant reduction in outpatient visits by 15% (95% CI: -20%, -10%) post-implementation, indicating potential improvements in service delivery efficiency. Community health centre systems have shown promise in reducing healthcare costs without compromising patient access to essential services. Further research should focus on understanding the specific factors contributing to these cost savings and exploring ways to enhance community engagement for sustained success. DiD model, Uganda, Community Health Centers, Cost-effectiveness, Healthcare delivery Treatment effect was estimated with logit (pᵢ) =₀+^ Xᵢ, and uncertainty reported using confidence-interval based inference.
Kibasa et al. (2003) studied this question.