Theoretical Underpinnings
In rural remote settings, individual, household and community-level
factors including socio-economic status, education, age, marital status,
occupation, distance to health facility and how healthcare is delivered
influence health-seeking behaviour . These factors also influence the
ability to navigate the health systems as well as adherence to modern
healthcare practices. This study hypothesized that the implementation of
GEHIP has the potential to improve health equity in rural communities by
attenuating the negative effect of adverse socio-economic status and
other characteristics. The hypothesis here is that community-based
primary healthcare brings services to the doorsteps of rural community
members thus reducing the cost and time in accessing health care. In
addition, through community engagement and health promotion activities,
community-based programs can bridge socio-cultural barriers to
healthcare seeking and practices in line with the Health Belief Model
(HBM) which posit that good health behavior can be achieved through
interventions that target perceived barriers to action, threats, risks
susceptibility, risk severity, highlighting the benefits of action, as
well as self-efficacy. To this end, GEHIP’s community-based primary
healthcare program can mitigate the impact of social determinants of
health between the poor and the rich, with potential equity improvement
in both access to healthcare and health outcomes for mothers and
children.