Providing Doorstep Services to Underserved Rural Populations: Community Health Officers in Ghana
English
Capacity Project
Health Workforce Innovative Approaches and Promising Practices Study
2006
21
Through its Community-Based Health Planning and Services (CHPS) initiative, Ghana has deployed more than 310 auxiliary nurses in 53 of the country’s most deprived districts. These nurses, who receive two years of training and the title Community Health Officer (CHO), are part of an innovative approach that shifts staff from low-impact static health centers with limited outreach to high-impact mobile community-supported services. CHOs provide doorstep services to underserved rural populations and have improved access to health services for nearly one million Ghanaians (each CHO serves an average of 4,500 people), resulting in substantial improvements in community health. [executive summary]
Subject
Geographic Focus
Resource Type
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