"'I'm a Health Worker' - Abduaraman Gidi" made by IntraHealth International.
This article synthesizes the qualitative evidence of the effectiveness of lay health workers (LHWs) as well as the factors affecting implementation of LHW programs for maternal and child health. 53 studies were included primarily describing the experiences of LHWs, program recipients, and other health workers. Results from the review suggest that rather than being seen as a lesser trained...
This paper explores the factors that shaped the acceptability and adoption of community health assistants (CHAs) into the health system at the district level in Zambia. Using thematic analysis, data was collected through a review of documents, 6 focus group discussions with community leaders, and 12 key informant interviews with CHA trainers, supervisors and members of the District Health...
This is the final report of the key findings from the 1st International Symposium on Community Health Workers. The symposium took place from February 21-23, 2017 in Kampala Uganda.
Research has demonstrated that task shifting, including the use of CHWs to deliver care, can improve population health. This systematic review examines whether task shifting in LMICs results in efficiency improvements by achieving cost savings. The authors identified 794 articles, and included 34 in the study. They found that substantial evidence exists for achieving cost savings and...
This systematic review examines the effectiveness of interventions aimed at increasing access to health services for children aged 5 years and below in LMIC. Fifty-seven studies were included in the review, and approximately half of studies (49%) were conducted in sub-Saharan Africa. The studies evaluated a diverse range of interventions and various outcomes. Supply side interventions included...
The purpose of this policy brief is to inform discussions and decisions in the World Health Organization (WHO) African Region on policies, strategies and programmes to increase access to primary health care (PHC) services and make progress towards universal health coverage (UHC) by expanding the implementation of scaled-up CHW programmes.
This study sought to understand CHW perspectives on a new primary health initiative in South Africa called Re-engineering Primary Health Care (rPHC). This initiative aims to provide a preventive and health-promoting community-based PHC model. Focus group discussions and surveys on the knowledge and attitudes of...
This study in Tigray, Ethiopia investigated the impact of a service delivery model that combined community-based distribution (CBD) of contraception with social marketing. 626 volunteer CHWs were recruited and trained to administer depot medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA) injections, provide counseling and referrals, and promote demand for family planning through door-to-door outreach and...
SPRING works to strengthen human resources for nutrition with the ultimate goal of increasing the number of formally-trained professional and frontline workers in nutrition, as prioritized by USAID’s Multi-Sectoral Nutrition Strategy 2014-15. This collection of resources includes the latest news, activities, publications,...
This review explores the current evidence available to assess if increased levels of integration of community health resources in CHW programs leads to higher program effectiveness and sustainability. 32 articles were chosen for an extensive review, complemented by analysis of the results of 15 other review studies. Analysis found no quantitative data and minimal inclusion of even basic...
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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