CHWs can play a significant role in mitigating the impacts of biodiversity loss, climate change, and global noncommunicable diseases on health by providing culturally-relevant education and behavioral interventions. Manas Behera and colleagues performed a review of the literature to understand how CHWs impact these factors on a global scale. The researchers identified four … [Read more...] about Planetary health and the role of community health workers
North America (U.S. and Canada)
Using Community Health Workers and a Smartphone Application to Improve Diabetes Control in Rural Guatemala
CHWs in low- and middle-income countries frequently use mobile health (mHealth) technology to support diabetes management. Sean Duffy and colleagues evaluated whether or not mHealth applications could be used to provide CHWs with clinical decision support for primary diabetes management in Guatemala. Results indicated that CHWs effectively helped patients manage diabetes during … [Read more...] about Using Community Health Workers and a Smartphone Application to Improve Diabetes Control in Rural Guatemala
Task-sharing interventions for improving control of diabetes in low-income and middle-income countries: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Impacts of health system physician shortages in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) can be mitigated by assigning tasks that require limited specialized knowledge to non-physician healthcare workers, including CHWs. Joseph Maria and colleagues reviewed 46 research studies to understand how this so-called “task-sharing” is applied to manage type 2 diabetes in LMICs. … [Read more...] about Task-sharing interventions for improving control of diabetes in low-income and middle-income countries: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Innovative COVID-19 Programs to Rapidly Serve New Mexico: Project ECHO
The University of New Mexico created Project ECHO to enable telementoring between health experts and health care providers in isolated and underserved areas. Joanna Katzman evaluated the effectiveness of 10 Project ECHO programs designed to provide COVID-19-related mentoring in New Mexico, among which included a seven week program to connect CHWs with subject matter experts. … [Read more...] about Innovative COVID-19 Programs to Rapidly Serve New Mexico: Project ECHO
Evaluation of an Integrated Health Promotion Program for a low-income urban population: Findings and lessons learned
Chronic disease progression is driven in part by unhealthy eating habits, limited knowledge about healthy nutrition, and accessibility of healthy food sources. Linda Weiss and colleagues evaluated the impact of a CHW- and nurse-led program to provide nutrition education, cooking classes, weekly farm shares, and other health promotion services. Program implementation led to … [Read more...] about Evaluation of an Integrated Health Promotion Program for a low-income urban population: Findings and lessons learned