Maternal and child health outcomes improve with the implementation of CHW home-visiting in urban areas, but less is known about their effects in rural South Africa. Karl le Roux and colleagues compared a rural area with CHW to one without CHWs to determine the effectiveness of CHW home-visits on maternal and child health. CHW home visits were associated with increased … [Read more...] about Community health workers impact on maternal and child health outcomes in rural South Africa – a non-randomized two-group comparison study
Program Design
Resource requirements for community-based care in rural, deep-rural and peri-urban communities in South Africa: A comparative analysis in 2 South African provinces
Inconsistent management of South African CHW programs generally, and ward-based outreach teams WBOTS particularly, derive in part from a lack of policy regulation. Decisions about how to improve programming policy and generate best practices must quantify costs of service delivery for various types of geographical communities. Donela Beseda and colleagues evaluated differences … [Read more...] about Resource requirements for community-based care in rural, deep-rural and peri-urban communities in South Africa: A comparative analysis in 2 South African provinces
Which intervention design factors influence performance of community health workers in low- and middle-income countries? A systematic review
National health systems increasingly rely on CHW programming to support population health. Maryse Kok surveyed 140 research studies to uncover CHW program designs that contribute to high CHW performance. Results indicated a broad array of contributing factors, including incentives, frequency of supervision, and high community involvement. … [Read more...] about Which intervention design factors influence performance of community health workers in low- and middle-income countries? A systematic review
Task sharing in health workforce: An overview of community health worker programmes in Afghanistan, Egypt and Pakistan
People living in WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region countries rely on CHW programs to receive health support. Rachel Folz and Moazzam Ali examined the available evidence on three CHW programs across Egypt, Pakistan, and Afghanistan to understand how to scale up or develop CHW programs in the region. Results underscore the effectiveness of these initiatives and highlight several … [Read more...] about Task sharing in health workforce: An overview of community health worker programmes in Afghanistan, Egypt and Pakistan
Using mobile phones to improve community health workers performance in low-and-middle-income countries
The authors of this study stress the importance of mHealth to enhance the impact of CHW’ work in LMICs. They emphasize the importance of mobile phones for data collection, provider communication, and monitoring. They also point out that obstacles, such as a lack of mHealth training and internet service, can hinder the effective use and rollout of mhealth solutions and argue for … [Read more...] about Using mobile phones to improve community health workers performance in low-and-middle-income countries