Community health workers—known by myriad titles, from health extension workers to village volunteers—form a critical part of the frontline health workforce in many low- and middle-income countries. So what kind of community and health system support improves community health worker (CHW) performance? This very question was debated by around 100 individuals representing … [Read more...] about Supporting Community Health Workers is Critical – But Who, What and How?
Research
Sustaining the Impact of Community Health Workers: Evidence from Health System Assessments
Countries seeking to expand health services to the community-level to ensure equity of access to care frequently turn to community health workers (CHW) as an essential expansion of the health team. A variety of approaches to training, hiring and supporting community health workers have been implemented by countries, and there are many important lessons learned to be … [Read more...] about Sustaining the Impact of Community Health Workers: Evidence from Health System Assessments
Enhancing training of community health workers in DRC through effective management
Evidence of the need to scale up the number of frontline health workers in developing countries abounds throughout sub-Saharan Africa, as described in the recent post in this blog by Avril Ogrodnick of Abt Associates. Yet training new health workers is not sufficient, in itself, to sustainably address the crisis – governments must also invest in providing management support to … [Read more...] about Enhancing training of community health workers in DRC through effective management
How to save 3.6 million children each year? Invest in community health workers
The following is a Q&A between Julia Bluestone of Jhpiego and the Frontline Health Workers Coalition and Dr. Henry Perry of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health on a recently released report examining community health workers’ effectiveness in saving lives and improving health. The post was originally published in the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s … [Read more...] about How to save 3.6 million children each year? Invest in community health workers
Improving the quality of data collected by community health workers in rural Malawi
In 2007, Abwenzi Pa Za Umoyo (APZU), the sister organization of Partners In Health (PIH) in Malawi, began a community health worker program to support HIV care in the remote, rural district of Neno. The program was designed to complement and be integrated with a Ministry of Health national HIV care program. The addition of community health workers allows HIV care and treatment … [Read more...] about Improving the quality of data collected by community health workers in rural Malawi