US states increasingly seek to enact CHW workforce development programs to provide frontline support for community health, but limited guidelines offer consensus about how to develop and implement these programs. Virginia Chaidez, Angela Palmer-Wackerly, and Kate Trout surveyed CHW employers in Nebraska to inform Nebraskan CHW workforce development. Based on their results, the … [Read more...] about Community Health Worker employer survey: Perspectives on CHW workforce development in the midwest
Best practices
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
A monitoring and evaluation gap for WHO’s community health worker guidelines, Botswana
A 2018 literature review conducted by the World Health Organization (WHO) indicated that CHWs are effective at improving population health across countries in sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and the Americas. Based on their results, the WHO developed guidelines to ensure CHWs perform their roles effectively. Stephanie Watson-Grant and co-authors reported on a comparative … [Read more...] about A monitoring and evaluation gap for WHO’s community health worker guidelines, Botswana
When financial incentives backfire: A community health worker experiment in Uganda
CHWs sometimes charge for health products like those used to treat child diarrhea, but limited research has examined whether or not a fee-for-service model improves CHW performance. Zachary Wagner and his team compared the performance of Uganda-based CHWs who charged for their services against those who did not. Those who charged for their services conducted fewer household … [Read more...] about When financial incentives backfire: A community health worker experiment in Uganda
How do decision-makers use evidence in community health policy and financing decisions? A qualitative study and conceptual framework in four African countries.
Decisions about whether and how to finance and support close-to-community community health programming are best driven by evidence about what “works,” but a recent study by Meghan Bruce Kumar and her team suggests that the evidence base is limited. The researchers took a look at financing decisions in Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawai, and Mozambique to model their decision making … [Read more...] about How do decision-makers use evidence in community health policy and financing decisions? A qualitative study and conceptual framework in four African countries.