This research paper assesses the uptake of services provided by community health workers who were trained as community health entrepreneurs (CHEs) for febrile illness and diarrhea. Findings showed that CHEs play a considerable role in delivering primary health care including the provision of medication for fever and diarrhea in the rural areas in which they are active.

2024 - Uptake of community health care provision by community health entrepreneurs for febrile illness and diarrhoea: a cross-sectional survey in rural communities in Bunyangabu district, Uganda BJM open (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Madiro & University of Toronto, Canada, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda & Erasmus University, Rotterdam, Netherlands).

 

This evaluation study, conducted by 60 Decibels in February 2024, collected insights from 271 beneficiaries who interacted with Community Health Entrepreneurs (CHEs) in Uganda. Using Lean Data methodology, the study provides a comprehensive assessment of the impact of CHEM on access to healthcare, quality of services, and beneficiary satisfaction, benchmarking results against global standards.

2024 – 60 Db report

 

At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, a local consortium in Uganda [Healthy Entrepreneurs in close collaboration with the Ministry of Health] set up a telehealth approach that aimed to educate 3,500 Community Health Workers (CHW) in rural areas about COVID-19, help them identify, refer and care for potential COVID-19 cases, and support them in continuing their regular community health work. The research concludes that the telehealth approach provided useful support to thousands of CHWs in rural communities in Uganda. The telehealth approach could be quickly set up and scaled up and offers a low cost strategy for providing useful and flexible support to CHWs in rural communities.

2023 - Using telehealth to support Community Health Workers (BMC Health Services Research)

 

This evaluation study introduces a practical toolkit designed to help health social enterprises in Africa, particularly those working with community health workers, to develop and implement gender intentional strategies that improve both gender equality and health outcomes. Drawing on research and partnerships—including with Healthy Entrepreneurs—the article highlights real-world examples and best practices for empowering community health workers and advancing social enterprise impact in underserved communities.

2021 https://equityhealthj.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12939-021-01427-0

The toolkit Gender Toolkit Aug provides practical strategies and actionable guidance for health social enterprises in Africa to intentionally address gender-based constraints and promote gender equality, empowering community health workers—especially women—to improve both health and social outcomes in their communities

 

This study explores the association between community health entrepreneurship and the sexual and reproductive health status of rural households in West-Uganda. It found that households living in an area where community health entrepreneurs were active reported more often to use at least one modern contraceptive method, had more knowledge of modern contraceptive methods, knew more sexually transmitted infections as well as mentioned more symptoms of sexually transmitted infections, concluding that community health entrepreneurship may be a more resilient way of organizing community health systems.

2019 - Reaching rural communities through Healthy Entrepreneurs (Oxford University Press in association with The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine).