Results: 3069
How should community health workers in fragile contexts be supported: Qualitative evidence from Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Democratic Republic of Congo (2020)
CHWs in resource-constrained settings require strong management and support to perform their roles effectively. Joanna Raven and colleagues sought to develop evidence-based support policies by looking at CHW programs in Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Democratic Republic of Congo. Results point toward a need for investing in strong Human Resources Management.
Role of community health workers in improving cost efficiency in an active case finding tuberculosis programme: an operational research study from rural Bihar, India (2020)
The World Health Organization estimates that as much as thirty percent of cases of tuberculosis (TB) worldwide remain unidentified. Tushar Garg and colleagues examined whether active case finding performed by CHWs in Bihar, India represents a cost-effective strategy for TB identification and whether or not participation impedes CHW provision ofRead more…
“They have been neglected for a long time”: a qualitative study on the role of recognition of rural health motivators in the Shiselweni region, Eswatini (2020)
As the face of Swaziland’s CHW programme, Rural Health Motivators (RHM) provide health promotion messaging, household assessments, and general community health referrals, with some HIV- and tuberculosis-related (TB) responsibilities. The best method to support RHMs as they perform HIV and TB responsibilities remains unclear due to the decentralized nature ofRead more…
Community health worker motivation to perform systematic household contact tuberculosis investigation in a high burden metropolitan district in South Africa (2020)
South Africa implemented a primary health care reform initiative in 2012 to increase universal health coverage by implementing ward-based primary health care outreach teams (WBPHCOTs) relying primarily on the support of CHWs. Gladys Kigozi and colleagues developed a survey to measure CHW motivation to participate in these WBPHCOTs in theRead more…
Considerations for building sustainable community health worker programs to improve maternal health (2020)
Despite growing evidence of the efficacy of CHW programs to achieve universal health coverage, limited short-term program funding in the US constrains the sustainability of these programs. Renee Mehra and colleagues examined factors contributing to sustainability of CHW programs targeting maternal health. They identified three key themes influencing program sustainability:Read more…
Can people-centered community-oriented interventions improve skilled birth attendance? Evidence from a quasi-experimental study in rural communities of Cambodia, Kenya, and Zambia (2020)
Skilled birth attendance provided by CHWs increases access to culturally relevant treatment support, home-based care, and antenatal care. One way to strengthen CHW systems and subsequent provision of care relies on community scorecards to improve health service utilization. Anbrasi Edward and colleagues evaluated the effects of combined use of communityRead more…
Household coverage, quality and costs of care provided by community health worker teams and the determining factors: findings from a mixed methods study in South Africa (2020)
Insufficient supervision prevents CHWs from realizing their potential to achieve universal health coverage. Jane Goudge and colleagues evaluated the impacts of various configurations of supervisors on CHW coverage, quality of care, and costs of service provision in Sedibeng, South Africa. CHWs visited 17% of households in the last year, conductingRead more…
Evaluating the effect of village health workers on hospital admission rates and their economic impact in the Kingdom of Bhutan (2020)
Village Health Workers (VHWs) in Bhutan provide cost-fee healthcare support that has enabled the country to achieve 95% immunization coverage and nearly eliminate several diseases, including malaria and neonatal tetanus. Sacha Hauc and colleagues evaluated the impacts of VHWs on health-related cost savings and hospital admission rates. Addition of aRead more…
Beyond the Rhetoric of Equity: Will the Frontline Healthcare Workers Who Serve the Poor Be Prioritized for the COVID Vaccine? (2020)
An international coalition of organizations representing 80 countries set an aggressive goal of making 2 billion Covid-19 vaccinations available by the end of 2021. Populations prioritized to receive vaccination include high risk and vulnerable persons and frontline healthcare workers. The definition of “frontline healthcare worker”, however, remains ambiguous and isRead more…
The Role of Community Health Workers Within the Continuum of Services for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, and Other STIs Amongst Men Who Have Sex with Men in Europe (2020)
CHW programs demonstrate strong potential for preventing and managing HIV in European countries, but limited research describes the connection between CHWs and HIV prevention among men who have sex with men (MSM) due to varying usage of the term “CHW” and sparse documentation of their role. Nicolas Lorente and colleaguesRead more…
Community level interventions for pre-eclampsia (CLIP) in Pakistan: A cluster randomised controlled trial (2020)
Karnataka, India experiences exceptionally high rates of maternal, fetal, and infant deaths. Hypertension during pregnancy increases risk for both eclampsia and maternal death. Rahat Qureshi and colleagues assessed the effectiveness of a CHW-led community-based intervention designed to reduce pregnancy hypertension. Compared to a control group, the community-level intervention reduce stillbirthRead more…
Cost-effective care coordination for people with dementia at home (2020)
The Maximizing Independence (MIND) at Home program was developed to enable persons with dementia to receive comprehensive, home-based care. This program relies on a team of community health workers in collaboration geriatric psychiatrists and registered nurses specialized in dementia care. In response to pilot studies demonstrating success of this programRead more…
Expanding Medical Education for Local Health Promoters Among Remote Communities of the Peruvian Amazon: An Exploratory Study of an Innovative Program Model (2020)
Over half of residents of Loreto, Peru reside in remote communities with limited access to health services. Daniel Ebbs and colleagues evaluated health resource utilization in Loreto before and after the implementation of a CHW training program created with the support of the local community. Health resource utilization significantly improvedRead more…
Feasibility and acceptability of a video library tool to support community health worker counseling in rural Afghan districts: a cross-sectional assessment (2020)
Afghanistan experiences high maternal, infant, and child mortality compared to neighboring countries. Lack of access to facility-based health services and mass media health communications prevents timely access to preventative health information. Leila Dal Santo and colleagues provided CHWs with a tablet-based health video library (HVL) to assess the feasibility ofRead more…
Autonomous Continuation of Community Health Workers’ Activities in Thegon Township, Bago Region, Myanmar (2020)
CHW programs in low- and middle-income countries experience sustainability challenges related to the availability of resources and funding. When faced with limited resources, some CHWs in these countries adopt creative task modifications to continue performing their role. Taeko Oguma and colleagues followed unsupervised CHWs for 40 months after the completionRead more…
Evaluating fidelity of community health worker roles in malaria prevention and control programs in Livingstone District, Zambia-A bottleneck analysis (2020)
CHWs demonstrate strong ability to improve the reach of community-based malaria interventions and reduce malaria incidence, but cases of malaria in Zambia are on the rise. Helen Mwiinga Chipukuma and colleagues wanted to know if rising cases has to do with whether or not CHWs in Livingstone, Zambia perform theirRead more…
Costing analysis of a pilot Community Health Worker program in rural Nepal (2020)
The Nepal Ministry of Health and Population developed a pilot program conforming to the 2017 World Health Organization CHW guidelines. Prajwol Nepal and colleagues evaluated data from this program collected between July 2017 and July 2018 to estimate the average per capita annual cost of the program. Costs ranged fromRead more…
A qualitative study of social connectedness and its relationship to community health programs in rural Chiapas, Mexico (2020)
Having social connections acts as a buffer against poor health and well-being. CHWs provide communities with an opportunity to strengthen social connectedness by living and working in the same locality. Rachel Deitz surveyed three towns in Chiapas, Mexico to understand local perspectives on the social benefits of a CHW-enhanced communityRead more…
Implementation costs of a community health worker delivered weight loss intervention in black churches serving underserved communities (2020)
Black communities experience higher rates of obesity than others, increasing risk for diabetes and other weight-related health conditions. Karen Kim Yeary and colleagues assessed the cost of implementing a CHW-led Diabetes Prevention Program adapted for rural black communities. Participants across 31 churches received a 16-session weight loss information over aRead more…
Establishing voluntary certification of community health workers in Arizona: a policy case study of building a unified workforce. (2020)
Promotoras de salud and community health representatives along the Arizona U.S.-Mexico border collaboratively developed CHW Voluntary Certification to improve the status, credibility, compensation, and standardization of CHWs. Implementation of this program required overcoming historical resistance from the state legislature toward creation of state-wide regulations. This case study provides an overviewRead more…
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