Do community scorecards improve utilisation of health services in community clinics: experience from a rural area of Ban
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(2020) 19:149
RESEARCH
Open Access
Do community scorecards improve utilisation of health services in community clinics: experience from a rural area of Bangladesh S. M. A. Hanifi1*, Aazia Hossain1, Asiful Haidar Chowdhury1,2, Shahidul Hoque1, Mohammad Abdus Selim1, Shehrin Shaila Mahmood1 and Abbas Bhuiya3
Abstract Background: The government of Bangladesh initiated community clinics (CC) to extend the reach of public health services and these facilities were planned to be run through community participation. However, utilisation of CC services is still very low. Evidence indicates community score card is an effective tool to increase utilisation of services from health facility through regular interface meeting between service providers and beneficiary. We investigated whether community scorecards (CSC) improve utilisation of health services provided by CCs in rural area of Bangladesh. Methods: This study was conducted from December 2017 to November 2018. Three intervention and three control CCs were selected from Chakaria, a rural sub-district of Bangladesh. CSC was introduced with the Community Groups and Community Support Groups in intervention CCs between January to October 2018. Data were collected through observation of CCs during operational hours, key informant interviews, focus group discussions, and from DHIS2. Utilisation of CC services was compared between intervention and control areas, pre and post CSC intervention. Results: Post CSC intervention, community awareness about CC services, utilisation of clinic operational hours, and accountability of healthcare providers have increased in the intervention CCs. Utilisation of primary healthcare services including family planning services, antenatal care, postnatal care and basic health services have significantly improved in intervention CCs. Conclusion: CSC is an effective tool to increase the service utilization provided by CCs by ensuring community awareness and participation, and service providers’ accountability. Policy makers and concerned authorities may take necessary steps to integrate community scorecard in the health system by incorporating it in CCs. Keywords: Community scorecard, Community participation, Community clinic, Service utilisation
* Correspondence: [email protected] 1 Health Systems and Population Studies Division, Universal Health Coverage, icddr,b. 68 Shaheed Tajuddin Ahmed Sarani, Mohakhali, Dhaka 1212, Bangladesh Full list of author information is available at the end of the article © The Author(s). 2020 Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the mate
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