CHW Central

A global resource for and about Community Health Workers

Gender

Women’s attitudes toward receiving family planning services from community health workers in rural Western Kenya

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In African countries including Kenya, contraceptive use, fertility rates and other reproductive health indicators in rural areas lag behind urban areas. Even though Kenya's fertility rate declined from 8.1 in 1978 to 4.6 in 2008, the figures are much higher in rural areas, 5.2 compared to an urban rate of 2.9. The persistent high fertility rate has been attributed to many … [Read more...] about Women’s attitudes toward receiving family planning services from community health workers in rural Western Kenya

Retention of female volunteer community health workers in Dhaka urban slums: a prospective cohort study

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Volunteer community health workers (CHWs) are a key approach to improving community-based maternal and child health services in developing countries. BRAC, a large Bangladeshi non-governmental organization (NGO), has employed female volunteer CHWs in its community-based health programs since 1977, recently including its Manoshi project, a community-based maternal and child … [Read more...] about Retention of female volunteer community health workers in Dhaka urban slums: a prospective cohort study

Equally able, but unequally accepted: Gender differentials and experiences of community health volunteers promoting maternal, newborn, and child health in Morogoro Region, Tanzania

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Despite emerging qualitative evidence of gendered community health worker (CHW) experience, few quantitative studies examine CHW gender differentials. The launch of a maternal, newborn, and child health (MNCH) CHW cadre in Morogoro Region, Tanzania enlisting both males and females as CHWs, provides an opportunity to examine potential gender differences in CHW knowledge, health … [Read more...] about Equally able, but unequally accepted: Gender differentials and experiences of community health volunteers promoting maternal, newborn, and child health in Morogoro Region, Tanzania

Reservation wage of female volunteer community health workers in Dhaka urban slums: a bidding game approach

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BRAC, a large Bangladeshi NGO, recently has been using female volunteer community health workers (CHWs) in Dhaka urban slums to provide maternal and child health services. Due to erratic performance-based income and higher opportunity cost the urban CHWs lose motivation which contributes to high dropout and poor performance. This results challenges for the cost effectiveness … [Read more...] about Reservation wage of female volunteer community health workers in Dhaka urban slums: a bidding game approach

Snap shots from a photo competition: what does it reveal about close-to-community providers, gender and power in health systems?

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In this commentary, we discuss a photography competition, launched during the summer of 2014, to explore the everyday stories of how gender plays out within health systems around the world. While no submission fees were charged nor financial awards involved, the winning entries were exhibited at the Global Symposium on Health Systems Research in Cape Town, South Africa, in … [Read more...] about Snap shots from a photo competition: what does it reveal about close-to-community providers, gender and power in health systems?