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Background: The government of Tanzania is committed to achieve Universal health coverage. To address this a Community health Insurance Fund (CHF) was introduced which provides financial protection against the cost of illness and improving access to quality health services for low-income rural households who are excluded from formal insurance. Since its establishment in Tanzania its enrolment has been regressive due to many reasons one being affordability and poverty. This is a study protocol for which the objective is to plan a study aiming at exploring the reasons for low uptake of the CHF in the rural Tanzania.

Methods: The planned study will deploy a mixed method approach. Questionnaire will be administered to a total of 1660 households randomly sampled from the same area. To complement quantitative data, two Focus group discussions will be conducted comprising of household members and members from ward/village health committees. The logistic regression model will be used to assess the dependent effect of CHF and an outcome variable.

Expected results: The planned study will help better understanding of the Community Health Insurance in Tanzania and help to reveal important aspects to be addressed in order to improve the scheme in Tanzania.