HSG Hub

The Health Systems Global Thematic Working Group (TWG): ‘Supporting and strengthening the role of community health workers in health system development’ will be hosting a panel session at HSR 2020 second phase. The goal of the (TWG) is to support the generation, synthesis and communication of evidence on the roll out and functioning of community health worker (CHW) programmes and to enable learning across diverse geographical and political contexts. In the session the TWG will focus on the role of CHWs in fragile and conflict-affected settings. CHWs play an important role in the provision of community-based services where formal health systems may be (temporarily) weakened or dysfunctional. CHWs and other community-level actors can also play a role in emergency and disaster preparedness and response (disease outbreaks and/or natural disasters). While it is known that CHWs play important roles – preventive, promotive and often also curative – in various fragile contexts, there is limited evidence about specific circumstances and factors that influence CHWs’ work in these contexts. Even more so than in non-fragile settings, health system and community support influence CHW performance. Likewise, a lack of such support can lead to overburdened and stressed CHWs. CHWs’ resilience and coping mechanisms in…

CHWs engaged in contact tracing, transport, screening, and follow-up of patients with COVID-19 are at risk of developing psychological distress and mental health symptoms. A mental health response is therefore needed to support CHWs during and after the coronavirus response reaches crisis levels in local regions. This response should recognize the unique needs and challenges of male and female providers. Around the world, some health systems are developing and implementing strategies to offer such support to formal frontline care workers. However, evidence-based guidelines to inform mental health care for CHWs, especially during public health emergencies, remain scarce. How do organisations support the mental health and well-being of community health workers? The George Institute, together with the Health Systems Global Thematic Working Group on Community Health workers, surveyed a CHW program to explore the availability of resources that support the mental wellbeing of CHWs in low and middle-income countries (LMICs) during the COVID-19 pandemic. We crowdsourced resources via a Google survey from 25th May to 8th June 2020. Overall, 103 participants responded from 23 countries (Figure 1). Sixty-one responses were included in the final analysis as the rest were either duplicates, from representatives of the same organisation, or empty responses. Both…