Can you model growth of trust? A study of the sustainability of a rural community health centre in North India

Trust in the service provided by any health facility is of vital importance to its sustainability, whether it is a community clinic in a rural area of a developing country or an international telemedicine service. Community health centres can be used as a means of delivering highly accessible, low‐cost health service in the developing world. A major strategic issue for planners of such centres is the expected level of uptake of services throughout a region and its effect on sustainability of any facility. In this study of a clinic in rural north India, Monte Carlo simulation is used in modelling the spatio‐temporal spread of usage of the service. Trust in the provider is built both through word‐of‐mouth contacts and previous development activities: our study contributes to the literature with a practical application of trust modelling.