In 1978, the Alma-Ata declaration on primary health care (PHC) recognized that the world’s health issues required more than just hospital-based and physician-centered policies. The figure of the community health worker (CHW) remains a central feature of participation within the PHC approach, and being a CHW is still considered to be an important way of participation within … [Read more...] about ‘It’s the sense of responsibility that keeps you going’: stories and experiences of participation from rural community health workers in Guatemala
Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC)
Pasa la voz (spread the word): using women’s social networks for HIV education and testing.
Pasa la Voz (spread the word) is a human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevention methodology inspired by respondent-driven sampling (RDS) that uses social networks to access hard-to-reach populations. As field testing showed the approach to be efficacious among at-risk women in West Texas and Southern New Mexico, we set out to evaluate the methodology in a Mexican context. A … [Read more...] about Pasa la voz (spread the word): using women’s social networks for HIV education and testing.
The Health Workforce: Scaling up through primary health care
This presentation was delivered at the 4th Health Conference on Primary Health Care and Family Health in Brazil. Building on an overview of the global health workforce challenges, Dr Sheikh outlined short-, medium - and long-term strategies to address health personnel shortages, and analysed the links between the HRH agenda and the revitalisation of primary health care. The … [Read more...] about The Health Workforce: Scaling up through primary health care
Performance factors of mobile rich media job aids for community health workers.
In developing countries, where the density of trained physicians and nurses is low, community health workers (CHWs) are typically the primary and sometimes sole providers of healthcare to millions. However, studies have shown that even well motivated CHWs using paper-based job aids demonstrate less-than-desirable rates of treatment and diagnosis errors, and … [Read more...] about Performance factors of mobile rich media job aids for community health workers.
Community Health Workers in Brazil’s Unified Health System: A Framework of their Praxis and Contributions to Patient Health Behaviors
Community Health Workers (CHWs) play a pivotal role in primary care, serving as liaisons between community members and medical providers. However, the growing reliance of health care systems worldwide on CHWs has outpaced research explaining their praxis – how they combine indigenous and technical knowledge, overcome challenges and impact patient … [Read more...] about Community Health Workers in Brazil’s Unified Health System: A Framework of their Praxis and Contributions to Patient Health Behaviors
