Effectiveness of the Devolved Primary Health Care Gatekeeper System in Machakos County, Kenya

Abstract

The low health outcomes and inequities problems in developing countries are due to ineffective gate keeping at the Primary Health Care (PHC) level, non-adherence to policy and dysfunctional health infrastructure. This study was conducted at 100 PHC centres sampled using Taro Yamane formula, in Machakos County, Kenya, from March to May 2015. It involved 8 gender-based focus group discussions (FGDs) with patients and their caretakers. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected from emancipated children and adults aged 15-65 years excluding the disabled due to data integrity issues. The Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 20.0 and Atlas.ti 7 software were used for data analysis. Correlation was done using the Spearman rho test and significance was set at