Authors: Sara Javanparast, Fran Baum, Ronald Labonte, David Sanders, Zohreh Rajabi and Gholamreza Heidari
The role of Community Health Workers (CHWs) in improving access to basic healthcare services, and mobilising community actions on health is broadly recognised. The Primary Health Care (PHC) approach, identified in the Alma Ata conference in 1978, stressed the role of CHWs in addressing community health needs. Training of CHWs is key to developing knowledge and skills related to specific tasks and to increase CHWs’ capacity to communicate with and serve local people. This study aimed to analyse the CHW training process in Iran and how different components have impacted CHW performance and satisfaction. Recognition of the CHW program and their training in national health planning and financing facilitates the implementation and sustainability of the program. Specialised training centres managed by district health networks provide an appropriate training environment that delivers comprehensive training and increases CHWs’ knowledge, skills and motivation to serve local communities. Changes in training content over time reflect an increasing number of programs integrated into PHC, complicating the work expected of CHWs. In-service training courses need to better address local needs. Although CHW programs vary by country and context, the CHW training program in Iran offers transferable lessons for countries intending to improve training in their CHW program.
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Resource Topic: Community Health Workers/Volunteers, Motivation/incentives, Scale-up, Training
Resource Type: Evaluation, Journal articles
Year: 2012
Region:
Country: Iran
Publisher May Restrict Access: No