Influence of community health volunteers on care seeking and treatment coverage for common childhood illnesses in the context of free health care in rural Sierra Leone

Authors: Aisha I. Yansaneh, Lawrence H. Moulton, Asha S. George, Sowmya R. Rao, Ngozi Kennedy, Peter Bangura, William R. Brieger, Augustin Kabano and Theresa Diaz

This study aimed to examine whether community health volunteers induced significant changes in care-seeking and treatment of ill children under five 2 years after their deployment in two underserved districts of Sierra Leone. The presence of community health volunteers was associated with a 105% increase in appropriate treatment for pneumonia and a 55% drop in traditional treatment for diarrhoea. Community health volunteers were also associated with fewer facility treatments for malaria. After implementing free care, coverage for treatment for all three illnesses in both study groups improved. Deployment of community health volunteers was associated with a reduced treatment burden at facilities and less reliance on traditional treatments.