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Reducing Child Mortality in the Last Mile: Experimental Evidence on Community Health Promoters in Uganda

• Researchers:

  • Martina Björkman Nyqvist, Andrea Guariso, Jakob Svensson, David Yanagizawa-Drott

• Partners:

  • Living Goods, BRAC Uganda, Innovations for Poverty Action

• Location:

  • Uganda

• Sample:

  • 7,000 households from 214 villages

• Timeline:

  • 2011-2014

• Theme:

  • Health

• Description:

  • The delivery of basic health products and services remains abysmal in many parts of the world where child mortality is high. This paper shows the results from a large-scale randomized evaluation of a novel approach to health care delivery. In randomly selected villages a sales agent was locally recruited and incentivized to conduct home visits, educate households on essential health behaviours, provide medical advice and referrals, and sell preventive and curative health products. Results after three years show substantial health impact: under-5 child mortality was reduced by 27% at an estimated average cost of $68 per life-year saved. The academic paper from this study is forthcoming in American Economic Journal: Applied Economics.