Do community health committees participate in governing health workers in primary healthcare facilities under fiscal decentralization?—An explanatory qualitative study from Tanzania

Abstract

BackgroundDecentralization is implemented at the local level to increase community participation in improving service delivery. Majority of developing countries are implementing Fiscal decentralization in primary healthcare through various approaches such as Direct Health Facility Financing, among other things, to empower Community governance structures to govern Primary Health Facility operations to improve the responsiveness of health service delivery and achieve Universal Health Coverage. One of the primary functions of these governance committees is to oversee health workers in their health facilities.AimsThis aimed at assessing how empowered governance committees govern health workers in their facilities under fiscal decentralization.MethodsTo collect data for this study, an explanatory qualitative design with phenomenology traditions was used. To select the area of study, health facilities, and participants, a purposeful sampling procedure was used. Data were gathered through interviews and Focus Group Discussions to explore committee participation in governing health workers in primary care. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the collected data.ResultThe findings of the study suggest that community governance committees’ participation in governing health workers under fiscal decentralization remains limited. Majority of the committees have found to have low limited participation in governing different aspects of health workers. The majority of the committees have discovered that hiring casual workers such as security guards and cleaners is more important than other functions.ConclusionThe study implies that lower and middle‐income countries’ willingness to implement fiscal reforms at the local level and empower communities to take the lead in governing health workers still there are very limited specific powers granted to them to govern health workers. Therefore, capacity building to the governance actors is critical if we are to achieve the benefit of fiscal decentralization.