"'I'm a Health Worker' - Abduaraman Gidi" made by IntraHealth International.
During the 29th African Union Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, heads of state endorsed two new initiatives to end AIDS by 2030. The first is the community health workers initiative which aims to train and deploy 2 million CHWs to work towards increasing the number of people who know their HIV status, who have access to treatment, and who are on treatment with suppressed viral loads. The...
Dr. Palazuelos, Partners in Health, and Dr. Ari Johnson, co-founder and director of Muso, discuss a ProCCM approach that builds on ideas of iCCM in Mali, while considering the multiple barriers patients face to care. Muso, an...
In Zimbabwe Dixon Chibanda, a psychiatrist, created a space called “Friendship Benches” that sets aside medical and technical elements of mental healthcare and engages the community through “grandmothers” or local lay health workers. The grandmothers are trained in a form of cognitive behavioral therapy, but engage their patients in local language which helps reduce stigma associated with...
This document provides a summary of the key points during the “Unlocking the community health workforce potential, post-Ebola: what models and strategies work” meeting. This meeting was designed to develop strategies for countries affected by Ebola and to share lessons from countries with strong existing community health systems. Needs of these countries were shared in an effort to align...
Post Ebola, Guinea is rebuilding its health system to deliver higher quality care. Part of their effort includes gaining trust again from the community, something that dwindled during the epidemic. Health Communication Capacity Collaborative (HC3) is a five year initiative funded by USAID that is working to address these concerns. HC3 utilizes a social and behavior change communication (...
Lochuch, a CHW in Kenya, faces many challenges in her job as she tries to protect the health of those in her community. She has dealt with angry husbands and ambulance denials; actions that could lead to harm of pregnant women. Lochuch is working to ensure that women can deliver in a hospital. This article details her personal experience overcoming barriers in her community and the...
In this article, mPowering reflects on learning from pre-existing CHW programs. First, they recognize CHWs who have support are more likely to make an impact on the communities they serve. In addition, the introduction of technology into many programs has presented opportunities to improve communication and data collection. The reflection concludes by stating current CHW programs need to be...
Kenya does not have a strong health infrastructure to support its people causing concern with current universal healthcare goals. Kenya worries it will not be able to deliver care without a strong CHW program such as Rwanda’s. Although Kenya already has CHWs working in certain areas, they are overwhelmed with large numbers of families per CHW and are not able to provide adequate care to...
This article provides background information on the incentive system for India’s Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs). India has created an outcome-based incentive system which creates a clear difference in payment per patient. ASHAs have been more likely to suggest certain procedures and leave out pertinent information to ensure a higher payout, putting patients at risk. This article...
In Ethiopia some CHWs are now receiving smartphones that aid them in providing care for patients as well as strengthening new skills they can use in their job. This technology is powered by a solar lantern that allows CHWs to use training modules at home that can be downloaded and used without connection. In addition, the lantern provides a source of light to study CHW textbooks at night. ...
Advancing Partners & Communities (APC) advances and supports community programs that improve the overall health of communities and achieve other health-related impacts, especially in relationship to family planning. The project increases access to community-based health services, spanning a spectrum of health issues. Implemented by JSI Research & Training Institute, Inc., in partnership with FHI 360, APC advances global learning by providing technical assistance to local partners and governments, generating new data and evidence, managing over 100 small and medium sized grants, and building the organizational and technical capacity of organizations to strengthen community health and family planning programming. APC’s work spans a wide spectrum of technical areas, including but not limited to: expanding access to quality health and FP services, building human resource capacity, strengthening policy and health systems, and integrating youth and gender into all of our activities. The changing landscape of health systems, combined with the shortage of highly skilled health providers, has created opportunities for scaling-up task sharing in the delivery of health and FP services at the community level.
Specific APC resources that may be of particular interest to implementers that work with CHWs are the Community Health Systems Catalog, the Community Health Worker Provision of Injectable Contraceptives suite of tools, and the first in a series of Community-based Health System Model briefs, focused on Nepal. Please visit APC’s website to learn more about the project and explore our many other resources. To learn about new resources and stay up to date on APC’s activities, please sign up for the newsletter.
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