Effect of the free healthcare policy on the health services' utilisation by children under five years in Burkina Faso

Objectives: This study aimed to analyse, at national level, the effects of the free healthcare policy for children on the use of health services by children under five in Burkina Faso. We hypothesized that this policy has led to an immediate and sustained increase in the use of health services for these children in the country.
Setting: We conducted a controlled interrupted time series. Monthly data at district level, spanning from January 2013 to December 2018 and corresponding to 72 monthly data points (39 before and 33 after), were extracted from the Burkina Faso National Health Information System. The analysed dataset included data from all the 70 health districts of the country.
Participants: The study consisted of aggregated data from children under five as the target for the policy with children aged between 5-14 years old as control group.
Intervention: The intervention was the introduction of the free healthcare policy for women and children under five years from April 2016. ...