Abstract:
There are a number of efforts by the Tanzanian Government to promote accessible and
equitable health services to deprived rural communities throughout the country. The
government, among other things, has been mobilizing various stakeholders to contribute to
the provision of health services to poor rural communities through community based health
insurance schemes. However, the provision of health services, through health insurance
schemes, continues to face poor response from the intended beneficiaries. Using a case of
Monduli Juu Ward, this study explored rural communities‟ response towards Joining the
improved Community Health Fund (iCHF). The study adopted a mixture of cross- sectional
research design and Participatory Action Research (PAR). The collected data were analyzed
by using SPSS and content analysis. Overall, the findings show that there are several
issues that affect the extent of rural communities‟ response to joining the schemes. Lack of
awareness and the prevalence of poverty among households have been proven to gravely
block a number of households from joining the scheme. It is recommended that the
government and other stakeholders should work closely with poor rural communities to create
economic empowerment programs and massive awareness campaigns. The measures will
enable the local communities to improve their socio - economic wellbeing as well as to awake
them on the benefits they would have obtained by joining the iCHF. Finally, PAR is
instrumental in the mobilization of communities for them to own the process.
