Methodological Evaluation of Community Health Centre Systems in South Africa Using Difference-in-Differences Models

Community health centres in South Africa have been established to improve healthcare access and outcomes for underserved populations. A systematic literature review will be conducted to identify relevant studies and apply difference-in-differences analysis to assess the effectiveness of these centres. The review will include a detailed examination of study designs, data sources, and statistical methods used. The application of difference-in-differences models revealed mixed results, with some centres showing significant yield improvements in specific health indicators while others did not demonstrate substantial gains. This review highlights the need for more rigorous methodological approaches to ensure consistent and reliable evaluations of community health centre performance. Future research should prioritise robust study designs and transparent reporting practices to enhance the validity of difference-in-differences analyses in this field. Treatment effect was estimated with $\text{logit}(p_i)=\beta_0+\beta^\top X_i$, and uncertainty reported using confidence-interval based inference.