The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) affords opportunities to sustain the role of community health workers (CHWs). Among myriad strategies encouraged by PPACA are prevention and care coordination, particularly for chronic diseases, chief drivers of increased health care costs. Prevention and care coordination are functions that have been performed by CHWs for … [Read more...] about Transforming the delivery of care in the post-health reform era: what role will community health workers play?
The role of community health workers (CHWs) in health promotion research: ethical challenges and practical solutions.
This article aims to describe the role of community health workers (CHWs) in health promotion research and address the challenges and ethical concerns associated with this research approach. Findings reveal a number of challenges that investigators and project managers encounter when working with CHWs on research projects involving the community. These include characteristics … [Read more...] about The role of community health workers (CHWs) in health promotion research: ethical challenges and practical solutions.
60 Million non-facility births: who can deliver in community settings to reduce intrapartum-related deaths?
For the world's 60 million non-facility births, addressing who is currently attending these births and what effect they have on birth outcomes is a key starting point toward improving care during childbirth. Skilled childbirth care is recommended for all pregnant women, and community strategies need to be linked to prompt, high-quality emergency obstetric care. CHWs may … [Read more...] about 60 Million non-facility births: who can deliver in community settings to reduce intrapartum-related deaths?
Developing the national community health assistant strategy in Zambia: a policy analysis.
In 2010, the Ministry of Health in Zambia developed the National Community Health Assistant strategy, aiming to integrate community health workers (CHWs) into national health plans by creating a new group of workers, called community health assistants (CHAs). The aim of the paper is to analyse the CHA policy development process and the factors that influenced its evolution and … [Read more...] about Developing the national community health assistant strategy in Zambia: a policy analysis.
5-SPICE: the application of an original framework for community health worker program design, quality improvement and research agenda setting
Despite decades of experience with community health workers (CHWs) in a wide variety of global health projects, there is no established conceptual framework that structures how implementers and researchers can understand, study and improve their respective programs based on lessons learned by other CHW programs. Engaging a large group of implementers, researchers and the … [Read more...] about 5-SPICE: the application of an original framework for community health worker program design, quality improvement and research agenda setting