Integration of Community Health Workers into Primary Healthcare Services in Northern Nigeria: An Efficiency Assessment

In northern Nigeria, community health workers (CHWs) play a crucial role in primary healthcare services. A mixed-methods approach was employed, including surveys, interviews, and focus groups to gather data from both CHWs and healthcare managers. CHW utilization rates were found to be consistently above the national average, with a notable increase in patient follow-up care (72% vs. 60%). The integration of CHWs into primary healthcare services has shown operational efficiency gains, particularly in patient engagement and care continuity. Further training programmes should be developed to enhance the skills of CHWs, while also increasing their remuneration to improve retention rates. Treatment effect was estimated with $\text{logit}(p_i)=\beta_0+\beta^\top X_i$, and uncertainty reported using confidence-interval based inference.