There is limited evidence that interventions for depression and other common mental disorders (CMD) can be integrated sustainably into primary health care in Africa. We aimed to pilot a low-cost multi-component 'Friendship Bench Intervention' for CMD, locally adapted from problem-solving therapy and delivered by trained and supervised female lay workers to learn if was feasible … [Read more...] about Problem-solving therapy for depression and common mental disorders in Zimbabwe: piloting a task-shifting primary mental health care intervention in a population with a high prevalence of people living with HIV
Scale-up
Enhancing training of community health workers in DRC through effective management
Evidence of the need to scale up the number of frontline health workers in developing countries abounds throughout sub-Saharan Africa, as described in the recent post in this blog by Avril Ogrodnick of Abt Associates. Yet training new health workers is not sufficient, in itself, to sustainably address the crisis – governments must also invest in providing management support to … [Read more...] about Enhancing training of community health workers in DRC through effective management
Make Recife Count: Adapt HRH to the UHC Agenda
Worldwide, there are severe shortfalls in the health workforce — not just in the quantity of doctors, nurses and other health workers, but in their management, performance and geographical distribution. These shortfalls are particularly glaring in light of the global movement for universal health coverage, progress toward which will require a high-functioning … [Read more...] about Make Recife Count: Adapt HRH to the UHC Agenda
A Call to Scale-Up Community Health Workers
This post is co-authored with Sonia Sachs on behalf of the 1 Million CHW Campaign. Public health officials and practitioners from around Africa and from international public and private organizations, businesses, and universities, met in Accra, Ghana June 9-11 to consider ways to scale-up the coverage of high-quality community health worker (CHW) systems in our countries to … [Read more...] about A Call to Scale-Up Community Health Workers
Integrating national community-based health worker programmes into health systems: a systematic review identifying lessons learned from low-and middle-income countries
A systematic review of published research was conducted in order to understand factors that may influence the integration of national community-based health worker (CBHW) programs into low- and middle –income countries. Four programs – Brazil, Ethiopia, India, and Pakistan – met the inclusion criteria and were integrated into their specific health systems. Several factors were … [Read more...] about Integrating national community-based health worker programmes into health systems: a systematic review identifying lessons learned from low-and middle-income countries