Primary Health Care for Remote Village Communities in Honduras: A Model for Training and Support of Community Health Workers

Authors: Rennert, W. and Koop, E.

This article presents a model for the development of sustainable primary health care in village communities in Honduras through the training and support of CHWs. The model, piloted in Comayagua, follows a “bottom-up” approach. A training curriculum for CHWs was developed that addressed the area’s predominant health problems and made use of “Where there is no doctor” Training, a medical kit and quarterly support visits were provided to CHWs. After 15 months of practice, CHWs had attended to 2,347 patients. The authors conclude that using CHWs to provide valuable primary care and health education is possible and feasible, but success depends on ongoing evaluation, supervision, training and guidance.