This document provides guidance and resources for implementing recommendations to integrate community health workers (CHWs) into community-based efforts to prevent chronic disease. After providing general information on CHWs in the United States, this document sets forth evidence demonstrating the value and impact of CHWs in preventing and managing a variety of chronic … [Read more...] about Addressing Chronic Disease through Community Health Workers: A policy and systems-level approach
NON Communicable Diseases/NCD
Hypertension education and adherence in South Africa: a cost-effectiveness analysis of community health workers
Of the non-communicable diseases (NCDs), hypertension is a major burden in general and in particular in South Africa with trends showing a growth of 20% for both men and women over the past decade. Of further significance is that adherence to hypertension medication varies significantly from under 10% in the lowest socio-economic status (SES) quintile compared to 80% in the … [Read more...] about Hypertension education and adherence in South Africa: a cost-effectiveness analysis of community health workers
An assessment of community health workers’ ability to screen for cardiovascular disease risk with a simple, non-invasive risk assessment instrument in Bangladesh, Guatemala, Mexico, and South Africa: an observational study
Cardiovascular disease contributes substantially to the non-communicable disease (NCD) burden in low- income and middle-income countries, which also often have substantial health personnel shortages. In this observational study we investigated whether community health workers could do community-based screenings to predict cardiovascular disease risk as effectively as could … [Read more...] about An assessment of community health workers’ ability to screen for cardiovascular disease risk with a simple, non-invasive risk assessment instrument in Bangladesh, Guatemala, Mexico, and South Africa: an observational study
Patient-Centered Community Health Worker Intervention to Improve Posthospital Outcomes A Randomized Clinical Trial
Objective: To determine whether a tailored community health worker (CHW) intervention would improve posthospital outcomes among low-SES patients. Results: Using intention-to-treat analysis, we found that intervention patients were more likely to obtain timely posthospital primary care, to report high-quality discharge communication, and to show greater … [Read more...] about Patient-Centered Community Health Worker Intervention to Improve Posthospital Outcomes A Randomized Clinical Trial
It’s not Ebola…it’s the systems
The 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa demonstrates key deficiencies in investment in health systems. Despite some modest investment in health systems, our field has instead largely chosen to pursue shorter-term, vertical efforts to more rapidly address key global health issues such as smallpox, polio, malaria, and HIV/AIDS. While those efforts have yielded … [Read more...] about It’s not Ebola…it’s the systems