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Impact of Community-Based Maternal Health Workers on Coverage of Essential Maternal Health Interventions among Internally Displaced Communities in Eastern Burma: The MOM Project

This article evaluates a pilot project to examine the feasibility of an innovative three-tiered network of community-based providers for delivery of maternal health interventions in the complex emergency setting of eastern Burma. [adapted from author]

Voices from the Field: Perspectives from Community Health Workers on Health Care Delivery in Rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

As the primary link between the formal health care sector and the household level in South Africa, community health workers (CHWs) provide a critical perspective on barriers
that exist in rural health care delivery. The results of this study suggest that CHWs recognize the need for HIV/AIDS- and TB-related interventions but are unable to provide a response commensurate to this need. [from abstract]

Review of the Utilization and Effectiveness of Community-Based Health Workers in Africa

This review examines the use of various categories of community health workers as first line health workers in dealing, for example, with maternal and child health, tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, malaria and other issues throughout Africa. [from author]

Promoting Health Lifestyles: Community Health Workers' Intervention Programme for Primary Prevention of Non-Communicable Diseases in Khayelitsha, an Urban Township in Cape Town

A community-based project to increase community awareness about primary prevention of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) was implemented in an urban township of Cape Town. The aims of project were to utilise community health workers as change agents in their community and to develop a NCD model for an urban township community. [adapted from author]

Community Health Workers: An Important Resource Towards Achieving the MDGs

Based on lessons learned from Tanzania, this resource advocates for the integration of community health workers (CHWs) into the revised HRH strategic framework, including the development of new strategies to enable CHWs to contribute more effectively to improved maternal and newborn health outcomes. [adapted from author]

Community Health Workers and Health Educators: Building Understanding and Partnerships in Education

This webinar’s presentation includes: defining the community health worker (CHW), case study of a CHW, CHW core roles and competencies, core values and code of ethics, and CHW-health educator partnership opportunities. [from author]

Community Health Workers: Social Justice and Policy Advocates for Community Health and Well-Being

This article argues that community health workers can connect people to health care and collect information relevant to policy. As a result of direct interaction with the populations they serve, they can recount the realities of exclusion and propose remedies for it, contribute to best practices, and inform public policy. [adapted from abstract]

Study on Health Extension Workers: Access to Information, Continuing Education and Reference Materials

This study was undertaken to make a clear needs assessment, define priorities and identify resources to plan appropriate continuing education programs and prepare reference materials for health workers, particularly with the deployment of 30,000 health extension workers which will create additional information access needs in Ethiopia. [adapted from abstract]

Study of the Working Conditions of Health Extension Workers in Ethiopia

The study focuses on the first batch of Ethiopian Health Extension Workers (HEWs) with the overall objective of assessing the working conditions of HEWs and their job satisfaction. [from abstract]

Building on the Current Evidence to Strengthen Community-Based Service Delivery Strategies for Promoting Child Survival

This document highlights four community-based health delivery strategies that have demonstrated improvements in child health in high-mortality, low-resource settings and supports the growing recognition that community programs that reach beyond the walls of health care facilities and involve community members as partners have a great potential for further reducing child mortality at low cost. [adapated from author]

Postpartum Family Planning for Community Health Workers

This learning resource package contains the trainer manual with all the material to design and hold a traning course for community health workers on postpartum family planing methods and counselling skills. It also has a participant manual for use during the training.

Effectiveness of an Intervention in Increasing Community Health Clinician Provision of Preventive Care: A Study Protocol of a Non-Randomised, Multiple-Baseline Trial

This study aims to assess the effectiveness of a multi-strategic practice change intervention in increasing clinician’s routine provision of preventive care across a network of community health services. [from abstract]

Treating Childhood Pneumonia in Hard-to-Reach Areas: A Model-Based Comparison on Mobile Clinics and Community-Based Care

This paper uses a decision mathematical model to estimate the relative effectiveness of two alternative strategies, mobile clinics and fixed community-based health services, for antibiotic treatment of childhood pneumonia, the world’s leading cause of child mortality. [from abstract]

Scale-Up of Community-Based Malaria Control Can be Achieved without Degrading Community Health Workers' Service Quality: The Village Malaria Worker Project in Cambodia

Cambodia recently scaled up their Village Malaria Worker (VMW) project by substantially increasing the number of VMWs and expanding the project’s health services to include treatment of fever, diarrhoea, and acute respiratory infections in children under five. This study examined if the scale-up interfered with VMWs’ service quality, actions, and knowledge of malaria control, and analysed VMWs’ overall achievements and perceptions of the newly added health services. [from abstract]

Human Resources for Health in Maternal, Neonatal and Reproductive Health at Community Level: A Profile of Timor-Leste

This profile summarises the available information on the cadres working at community level in Timor-Leste: their diversity, distribution, supervisory structures, education and training, as well as the policy and regulations that govern their practice. [from summary]

Human Resources for Health in Maternal, Neonatal and Reproductive Health at a Community Level: A Profile of Cambodia

This profile summarises the available information on the cadres working at community level in Cambodia; their diversity, distribution, supervisory structures, education and training, as well as the policy and regulations that govern their practice. [from summary]

Factors Associated with Job Satisfaction among Chinese Community Health Workers: A Cross-Sectional Study

This study aims to clarify the level of job satisfaction of Chinese community health workers between a metropolitan and a small city in Liaoning province and explore its associated factors. [from abstract]

Reaching into the Community: Health Workers and Population Growth

Scott Radloff, director of USAID’s Office of Population and Reproductive Health, talks about successful strategies to bring integrated health services to communities in need. [from publisher]

Evidence in Support of Community Based Interventions: Implications for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health

This presentation covers: global trends for maternal and childe survival; determinants of MDGs; current knowledge on what works and the role of human resources for health; and the role of innovations in scaling up. [adapted from author]

Community Case Management of Severe Pneumonia with Oral Amoxicillin in children Aged 2-59 Months in Haripur District, Pakistan: A Cluster Randomised Trial

The objective of this study was to assess whether community case management by lady health workers with oral amoxicillin in children with severe pneumonia was equivalent to current standard of care. [from summary]

Community Case Management of Malaria in Urban Settings: A Feasibility Study in Five African Sites

Community case management of malaria is an established route for distribution of anti-malarial drugs in rural areas, but this study examined the feasibility and acceptability of the approach through Community Medicine Distributors (CMDs) in urban areas using before and after implementation studies in five African cities in Ghana, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia and Malawi. [adapted from introduction]

Evaluation of a Community-Based Rehabilitation Model for Chronic Schizophrenia in Rural India

Community-based rehabilitation (CBR) is a model of care which has been widely used for physical disabilities in resource-poor settings. This study aimed to compare CBR with out-patient care (OPC) for schizophrenia in a resource-poor setting in India to determine if it is a feasible model for treatment in areas without specialized mental health care providers. [adapted from author]

Thirty Years after Alma-Ata: A Systematic Review of the Impact of Community Health Workers Delivering Curative Interventions against Malaria, Pneumonia and Diarrhoea on Child Mortality and Morbidity in Sub-Saharan Africa

Given the very limited professional health care human resources in these settings, it is important to examine the evidence for the effectiveness of community health worker (CHW) programs as a delivery strategy for health interventions in sub-Saharan Africa. This review focuses on the impact CHWs have when delivering curative interventions. [adapted from author]

Joint Statement on Scaling-Up the Community-Based Health Workforce for Emergencies

The aim of this statement is to draw attention to the vital role that the community-based health workforce plays in all phases of emergency risk management; promote the scale-up of the community-based health workforce; and encourage governments and supporting partners to reinforce the community-based health workforce by strengthening and preparing existing health systems. [from author]

Community Participation in Rural Primary Health Care: Intervention or Approach?

This literature review focused on evidence of the effectiveness of community participation and its role in rural primary health care service design and delivery to increase the likelihood of genuine community-health sector partnerships and more responsive health services for rural communities.

Preventing Postpartum Hemorrhage: Community-Based Distribution of Misoprostol in Tangail District, Bangladesh

This brief outlines a project whose objective was to have health and family planning field workers from the government and from nongovernmental organizations distribute misoprostol tablets to pregnant women in Tangail District in central Bangladesh, to assess the approach’s effectiveness, and to gather lessons learned and provide recommendations for national scale-up. [adapted from author]

Community-Owned Resource Persons for Malaria Vector Control: Enabling Factors and Challenges in an Operational Programme in Dar es Salaam, United Republic of Tanzania

By investigating the community-owned resource persons - their demographic characteristics, their reasons for participating in the an urban malaria control program (UMCP), and their work performance - this study outlines how communities can become responsible for malaria control. [adapted from author]

Human Resources for Health in Maternal, Neonatal and Reproductive Health at Community Level: a Profile of Bangladesh

This profile summarises the available information on the cadres working
at community level in Bangladesh; their diversity, distribution, supervisory structures, education and training, as well as the policy and regulations that govern their practice. [from summary]

Implementing Knowledge into Practice for Improved Neonatal Survival: a Cluster-Randomised, Community-Based Trial in Quang Ninh Province, Vietnam

The overall objective of this study was to evaluate if a facilitation intervention on the community level, with a problem-solving approach involving local representatives if the healthcare system and the community, results in improvements of neonatal health and survival. [adapted from abstract]

Health Facility Committees and Facility Management: Exploring the Nature and Depth of Their Roles in Coast Province, Kenya

This article explores the nature and depth of managerial engagement of health facility committees at the facility level in two rural districts in Kenya, and how this has contributed to community accountability. [from abstract]