A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for Award of Master of Leadership and Management (MLM) of Mzumbe University
Improved Community Health Fund (iCHF) was introduced to allow people who are working in informal sectors particularly in the rural areas to receive quality health quality services at the low cost. This study assessed the implementation and effectiveness of iCHF in rural communities. This study specifically determined the coverage and enrollment of iCHF in Rural Communities; investigated opportunities and challenges facing the implementation of iCHF as well as ascertaining the effectiveness of service providers in improving health services. The study case of this research was Kibaha District Council (KDC). The study involved the sample size of 100 respondents, which included 75 respondents who were members and beneficiaries of iCHF in the study area. The study was directed by Conventional theory of health insurance which holds that, people purchase insurance because they prefer the certainty of paying a small premium to the risk of getting sick hence paying a large medical bill. The study used Questionnaires and structured interviews guidelines as primary sources of data. In addition Documentary review was used as the secondary data collection tool.The research found increased enrolment rate and improvement in coverage of iCHF in the study area amongst farmers and members of the informal sector. This is due to increased in number of health centres and use of computerized system. Despite the challenges facing iCHF at the early phase of its operation, the programme is still having the opportunity of growing and becoming successful compared to previous programmes of CHF. The overall findings from field had shown that, iCHF has succeeded to ensure that members are provided with quality services when compared to CHF. Furthermore iCHF has well implemented and effective in attaining its objectives when compared to the CHF. This study recommends that, in order to ensure high effectiveness level of the programme, iCHF must be implemented under The National Health Fund (NHIF) given its vast experience of running the health insurance programmes when compared with the LGAs.