Research description
The topic of my PhD project is: Community-based care for improved child health in low-income countries: Distributional impact and sustainable financing.
Integrated community case management (iCCM) of common childhood illnesses (malaria, pneumonia, diarrhoea) was endorsed by the WHO and UNICEF in 2012 as an equity-focused strategy to improve access to appropriate treatment of illness in children and is currently introduced in a number of countries in sub-Saharan Africa, provided by lay Community Health Workers (CHWs). The aim of the research is to assess the extent to which community-based care for children in Uganda and Mozambique has led to more equitable distribution of healthcare services in relation to need and explore the cost and financial strategies associated with sustaining iCCM, considering that an important reason for failure of CHW programmes in the past has been the underestimation of resources and support needed to maintain high-quality services at the community level.