Results: 3217
Motivation and satisfaction among community health workers in Morogoro Region, Tanzania: nuanced needs and varied ambitions (2015)
In 2012, the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare (MOHSW), Tanzania, approved national guidelines and training materials for community health workers (CHWs) in integrated maternal, newborn and child health (Integrated MNCH), with CHWs trained and deployed across five districts of Morogoro Region soon after. To inform future scale up, thisRead more…
Selection and performance of village health teams (VHTs) in Uganda: lessons from the natural helper model of health promotion (2015)
Community health worker (CHW) programmes have received much attention since the 1978 Declaration of Alma-Ata, with many initiatives established in developing countries. However, CHW programmes often suffer high attrition once the initial enthusiasm of volunteers wanes. In 2002, Uganda began implementing a national CHW programme called the village health teamsRead more…
Strengthening Primary Health Care through Community Health Workers: Investment Case and Financing Recommendations (2015)
Despite the progress some countries have made in scaling up CHW programs, many countries that would benefit from strong CHW cadres currently have only ad hoc, sub-scale programs. This problem extends even to high-income countries that would benefit from CHW programs to provide cost-effective care and battle chronic disease. CountriesRead more…
Achieving the Triple Aim: Success with Community Health Workers (2015)
For decades, community health workers (CHWs) have played a critical role in public health efforts in Massachusetts to improve population health and to ensure that all residents of the state receive quality services. The Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) has long been a national leader in supporting the CHW workforceRead more…
Task Shifting Provision of Contraceptive Implants to Community Health Extension Workers: Results of Operations Research in Northern Nigeria (2015)
Among family planning methods, long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARCs), consisting of intrauterine devices (IUDs) and implants, have a proven record of high effectiveness and high user satisfaction, and they are not dependent on user adherence. However, despite the many advantages of LARCs, contraceptive implants, which are among the most effective LARCs,Read more…
Community Tool Box (2015)
The Community Tool Box is a free, online resource for those working to build healthier communities and bring about social change. Our mission is to promote community health and development by connecting people, ideas, and resources. The Tool Box consists of 46 chapters with topics ranging from community assessment to strategicRead more…
Financing CHW Systems at Scale in sub-Saharan Africa: Workshop Report (2015)
This report from the One Million Community Health Workers (1mCHW) Campaign on the outcomes from its 2015 workshop, Financing Community Health Worker Systems at Scale in Sub-Saharan Africa, shows that there is a timely opportunity to invest in government-led scale-up of community health worker programs in sub-Saharan Africa. Released today,Read more…
Care Groups I: An Innovative Community-Based Strategy for Improving Maternal, Neonatal, and Child Health in Resource-Constrained Settings (2015)
In view of the slow progress being made in reducing maternal and child mortality in many priority countries, new approaches are urgently needed that can be applied in settings with weak health systems and a scarcity of human resources for health. The Care Group approach uses facilitators, who are aRead more…
Exploring the context in which different close-to-community sexual and reproductive health service providers operate in Bangladesh: a qualitative study (2015)
A range of formal and informal close-to-community (CTC) health service providers operate in an increasingly urbanized Bangladesh. Informal CTC health service providers play a key role in Bangladesh’s pluralistic health system, yet the reasons for their popularity and their interactions with formal providers and the community are poorly understood. ThisRead more…
Using a human resource management approach to support community health workers: experiences from five African countries (2015)
Like any other health worker, community health workers (CHWs) need to be supported to ensure that they are able to contribute effectively to health programmes. Management challenges, similar to those of managing any other health worker, relate to improving attraction, retention and performance. Exploratory case studies of CHW programmes inRead more…
Strategic partnering to improve community health worker programming and performance: features of a community-health system integrated approach (2015)
There is robust evidence that community health workers (CHWs) in low- and middle-income (LMIC) countries can improve their clients’ health and well-being. The evidence on proven strategies to enhance and sustain CHW performance at scale, however, is limited. Nevertheless, CHW stakeholders need guidance and new ideas, which can emerge fromRead more…
Exploring competing experiences and expectations of the revitalized community health worker programme in Mozambique: an equity analysis (2015)
Mozambique launched its revitalized community health programme in 2010 in response to inequitable coverage and quality of health services. The programme is focused on health promotion and disease prevention, with 20% of community health workers’ (known in Mozambique as Agentes Polivalentes Elementares (APEs)) time spent on curative services and 80%Read more…
Snap shots from a photo competition: what does it reveal about close-to-community providers, gender and power in health systems? (2015)
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 onRead more…
Supervision of community health workers in Mozambique: a qualitative study of factors influencing motivation and programme implementation (2015)
Numerous countries around the world have established community health programmes as a means to expanding access to health services among vulnerable populations, and these programmes are considered a vital component of reaching the health-related Millennium Development Goals. With the shift towards the sustainable development goals and emphasis within these onRead more…
Costs and cost-effectiveness of community health workers: evidence from a literature review (2015)
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, notablyRead more…
Advancing Community Health Workers to Improve Health Outcomes and Reduce Costs: Recommendations for the California State Health Care Innovation Plan (2015)
This report includes many excellent suggestions for how CHWs can be meaningfully incorporated into our four key Innovation Plan initiatives – Accountable Communities for Health, Health Homes for Patients with Complex Needs, Maternity Care, and Palliative Care – to improve health outcomes for California’s diverse populations.
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 (2015)
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 physicians or nurses,Read more…
Evidence on feasibility and effective use of mHealth strategies by frontline health workers in developing countries: systematic review (2015)
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 systematicallyRead more…
Factors influencing the career choice and retention of community mental health workers in Ghana (2015)
Whilst there have been several studies exploring retention in health workers, little is known about health workers engaged in the provision of mental health services and the factors that affect their recruitment and retention. The objective of this research was to examine the views of stakeholders about the factors whichRead more…
Improving Programs, Improving the Lives of People Living with HIV (2012)
“There continues to be a tremendous focus on enrolling people in treatment programs and ensuring that they remain in care. This case study examines an integrated clinical and social support program that used quality improvement, decentralization, task shifting, and community engagement to identify and address challenges to sustaining HIV treatmentRead more…
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