Authors: Sydney Chauwa Phiri, Margaret Lippitt Prust, Caroline Phiri Chibawe, Ronald Misapa, Jan Willem van den Broek and Nikhil Wilmink
In Zambia, the 2010 National Community Health Worker Strategy (NCHWS) created a cadre of salaried Community Health Assistants (CHAs) to work in rural and underserved areas providing access to health care and developing prevention measures. The Ministry of Health (MOH) is currently in the process of creating a workforce of 5,000 CHAs. After the first class of CHAs graduated, a process evaluation was conducted. This study is the second evaluation of the program, which has since grown due to results of the first evaluation. The goal of this study was to evaluate long-term needs of a large-scale program and challenges it faces. Findings suggest that the CHAs are bringing crucial care to their communities, but are severely under supported in areas such as supervision, supplies, and community health policy limiting their full potential to serve the community. The study encourages these issues to be addressed in Zambia in order for CHAs to maximize their effectiveness.
Link: An exploration of facilitators and challenges in the scale-up of a national, public sector community health worker cadre in Zamb
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Resource Topic: Community Health Workers/Volunteers, Human Resources Management/Workforce Development, Program Evaluation
Resource Type: Evaluation
Year: 2017
Region: Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA)
Country: Zambia
Publisher May Restrict Access: No