| Abstract |
Background: The goal of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) is ensuring that populations have access to the health services they need without suffering financial hardship in paying for them. This is marred by significant resource shortages and service delivery gaps leading to lack of access to quality health services. In addition to this, poor populations suffer from more challenges like cost, which impedes access to healthcare. Saving for healthcare is an intervention that involves building capacities of individuals, families and communities to take up appropriate self-care, prevention, and care-seeking behavior in order to improve access to much needed healthcare. The Innovative Partnership for Universal Sustainable Healthcare (i-PUSH) program developed by African Medical and Research Foundation (AMREF) and PharmAccess, aims to empower low-income reproductive age women and their families by offering them the opportunity to save for health care on their mobile phones (“health wallet”), have subsidized health insurance, access upgraded quality healthcare, and improve their knowledge through digitally trained Community Health Volunteers (CHVs).
Objectives: To provide under-the-skin insights into the target populations in Kakamega, Kisumu and Nairobi; to evaluate the impact of i-PUSH program on maternal healthcare utilization, financial protection and women's empowerment; and to evaluate the impact of the LEAP training tool on CHVs and women's health literacy including their knowledge, behavior and uptake of respective services.
Study design: The study will use a three-pronged approach: year-long weekly Financial and Health Diaries, Baseline and Endline surveys, and qualitative interviews. The Diaries and the Surveys will be carried out in two Counties, Kakamega and Kisumu. The qualitative interviews will be carried out in the two counties and Nairobi as an additional county. The study will use a cluster randomized control trial design in Kakamega to evaluate the impact of i-PUSH program. In Kisumu, selected households will be followed-up to capture the health-seeking behavior, health insurance, and health expenditure pattern of households over time. The study will be initially for 17 months and will continue for three years subject to additional funding.
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