The Benin Integrated Family Health Project (Projet Intégré de Santé Familiale, PISAF) works to increase access to and improve the quality of family health services. This project report describes how, in remote areas where formal health workers are scarce, PISAF trains volunteer community health workers (CHWs) to provide basic services. These CHWs receive kits and are able to … [Read more...] about Community Health Workers in Benin Save Lives by Diagnosing Malaria
Reproductive Health/Family Planning
Community Health Volunteer Program Functionality and Performance in Madagascar: A Synthesis of Qualitative and Quantitative Assessments
For more than a decade, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) Mission in Madagascar and other partners have invested in the development of a national community health volunteer (CHV) system to improve access to life-saving primary health care services for rural and remote populations. This project aims to increase access to and availability of community-based … [Read more...] about Community Health Volunteer Program Functionality and Performance in Madagascar: A Synthesis of Qualitative and Quantitative Assessments
Building on safety, feasibility, and acceptability: the impact and cost of community health worker provision of injectable contraception
A critical shortage of doctors, nurses, and midwives in many sub-Saharan African countries inhibits efforts to expand access to family planning services, especially in rural areas. One way to fill this gap is for community health workers (CHWs) to provide injectable contraceptives, an intervention for which there is growing evidence and international support. This project in … [Read more...] about Building on safety, feasibility, and acceptability: the impact and cost of community health worker provision of injectable contraception
Evidence-based training of frontline health workers for door-to-door health promotion: a pilot randomized controlled cluster trial with Lady Health Workers in Sindh Province, Pakistan.
In an effort to improve access to care for women and children, the Pakistan National Programme for Family Planning and Primary Health Care recruits women and trains them to provide family planning services and primary health care in their own communities. Known as lady health workers (LHWs), they are the front line of health care in many … [Read more...] about Evidence-based training of frontline health workers for door-to-door health promotion: a pilot randomized controlled cluster trial with Lady Health Workers in Sindh Province, Pakistan.
Provision of Injectable Contraceptives in Ethiopia through Community-Based Reproductive Health Agents
The objective of this study was to determine if, with appropriate training, volunteers known as community-based reproductive health agents can administer injectable contraceptives to women in a rural region of Ethiopia with the same effectiveness, safety and acceptability as health extension workers. The demand for injectable contraceptives in Ethiopia has been amply documented … [Read more...] about Provision of Injectable Contraceptives in Ethiopia through Community-Based Reproductive Health Agents