Research

Effectiveness of the Home Based Life Saving Skills training by community health workers on knowledge of danger signs, birth preparedness, complication readiness and facility delivery, among women in Rural Tanzania

Community health workers in Tanzania are trained in Home Based Life Saving Skills to educate communities on danger signs, birth preparedness, and complication readiness regarding childbirth. However, maternal mortality is currently greater than 400 per 100,000 live births, leading to the question of the effectiveness of this training program. Using a quasi-experimental study … [Read more...] about Effectiveness of the Home Based Life Saving Skills training by community health workers on knowledge of danger signs, birth preparedness, complication readiness and facility delivery, among women in Rural Tanzania

CHWs often improve health care delivery in their communities by bringing health services closer to hard to reach populations. This study utilized systematic database searches to determine the extent of CHW program equity. Many programs reduced inequity related to location, gender, education, and socioeconomic status. While CHW programs do seem to promote equity, care should … [Read more...] about How equitable are community health worker programmes and which programme features influence equity of community health worker services? A systematic review

In order to get a better understanding of adolescent use of contraceptives in Bangladesh, researchers interviewed married adolescent girls, key informants, and CHWs. Main factors regarding the lack of contraceptive use among married adolescents include lack of health knowledge, communication ability, and mistrust towards contraceptive methods. CHWs played an important role in … [Read more...] about What Influences Adolescent Girls’ Decision-Making Regarding Contraceptive Methods Use and Childbearing? A Qualitative Exploratory Study in Rangpur District, Bangladesh

As community health workers gain more and more responsibility amidst shortages of skilled health workers, mobile technology for health (mHealth) is becoming more popular for health care delivery around the globe. In order to better understand the role mHealth applications have among CHWs, researchers tested whether short message services (SMS) could improve the reporting of … [Read more...] about Evaluation of a mHealth Data Quality Intervention to Improve Documentation of Pregnancy Outcomes by Health Surveillance Assistants in Malawi: A Cluster Randomized Trial

Using the popular mobile application WhatsApp, a mobile learning intervention was developed and designed to strengthen supervisory support for CHWs in Kenya. 6 months of conversations were analyzed and CHWs and supervisors interviewed to determine how WhatsApp was used in these settings. This preliminary data suggests that CHWs and their supervisors can be effectively trained … [Read more...] about Enhancing the Supervision of Community Health Workers With WhatsApp Mobile Messaging: Qualitative Findings From 2 Low-Resource Settings in Kenya