Community health workers (CHWs) are increasingly recognized as an integral component of the health workforce needed to achieve public health goals in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Many factors intersect to influence CHW performance. However, research seldom focuses on the implications of context for CHW or programme performance. Understanding the socio-cultural, … [Read more...] about How does context influence performance of community health workers in low- and middle-income countries? Evidence from the literature
Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC)
Effect of self-collection of HPV DNA offered by community health workers at home visits on uptake of screening for cervical cancer (the EMA study): a population-based cluster-randomized trial
Control of cervical cancer in developing countries has been hampered by a failure to achieve high screening uptake. In Argentina, more than 60% of women with low education have not had a Papanicolaou (Pap) test in the past 2 years. HPV DNA self-collection could increase screening coverage, but implementation of this technology is difficult in countries of middle and low income. … [Read more...] about Effect of self-collection of HPV DNA offered by community health workers at home visits on uptake of screening for cervical cancer (the EMA study): a population-based cluster-randomized trial
Costs and cost-effectiveness of community health workers: evidence from a literature review
In recent years, community health workers (CHWs) have received renewed attention in light of critical shortages in the health workforce and emphasis on strengthening primary healthcare systems for achieving global health goals. CHWs are generally assumed to be a less expensive alternative compared with other cadres of health workers, notably with regard to salary and incentives … [Read more...] about Costs and cost-effectiveness of community health workers: evidence from a literature review
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
Evidence on feasibility and effective use of mHealth strategies by frontline health workers in developing countries: systematic review
Given the large-scale adoption and deployment of mobile phones by health services and frontline health workers (FHW), we aimed to review and synthesise the evidence on the feasibility and effectiveness of mobile-based services for healthcare delivery. Five databases – MEDLINE, EMBASE, Global Health, Google Scholar and Scopus – were systematically searched for relevant … [Read more...] about Evidence on feasibility and effective use of mHealth strategies by frontline health workers in developing countries: systematic review