CHW programs in low- and middle-income countries experience sustainability challenges related to the availability of resources and funding. When faced with limited resources, some CHWs in these countries adopt creative task modifications to continue performing their role. Taeko Oguma and colleagues followed unsupervised CHWs for 40 months after the completion of a child … [Read more...] about Autonomous Continuation of Community Health Workers’ Activities in Thegon Township, Bago Region, Myanmar
Training
Establishing voluntary certification of community health workers in Arizona: a policy case study of building a unified workforce.
Promotoras de salud and community health representatives along the Arizona U.S.-Mexico border collaboratively developed CHW Voluntary Certification to improve the status, credibility, compensation, and standardization of CHWs. Implementation of this program required overcoming historical resistance from the state legislature toward creation of state-wide regulations. This case … [Read more...] about Establishing voluntary certification of community health workers in Arizona: a policy case study of building a unified workforce.
Learning from Community Health Worker programs, big and small
Interest and investment in Community Health Workers varies depending on the state of the research on the effectiveness of each program. In this commentary, Stephen Hodgins describes how sustained interest can be achieved by increasing cross-communication between small demonstration projects and large programs. … [Read more...] about Learning from Community Health Worker programs, big and small
Effectiveness of a community health worker (CHW) training in monitoring and care of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in rural Gujarat, India
CHWs in rural primary care settings can contribute to reducing the burden of noncommunicable diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). They are especially valuable in countries like India, where COPD is the second leading cause of disease and is responsible for the deaths of as many as one million residents annually. Gupta and colleagues assessed the … [Read more...] about Effectiveness of a community health worker (CHW) training in monitoring and care of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in rural Gujarat, India
Learning from community health worker programs, big and small
CHW programs demonstrate the potential for great impacts on population health, but interventions sometimes fail as a result of poor transitioning from program piloting to full scale implementation. Stephen Hodgins outlines some of the reasons these programs fail or succeed. He recommends expansions of research conducted both during intervention piloting and also at broad … [Read more...] about Learning from community health worker programs, big and small