Community Health Workers

This extensive report gathered evidence and research to see if technology could be harnessed in transformative ways to address critical gaps in community health worker (CHW) training in Sub-Saharan Africa. It covers: the importance of CHW, current approaches to CHW training, emerging evidence and opportunities. [adapted from author]

This study aimed to analyse the community health worker (CHW) training process in Iran and how different components of training have impacted on CHW performance and satisfaction. [from abstract]

The Community Health Worker Assessment and Improvement Matrix (CHW AIM) was designed to help assess communtiy health worker program functionality and to provide benchmarks against which to measure program improvements. This operations research activity was designed as a field intervention study that applied the CHW AIM process. [adapted from summary]

Using South Africa as a case study, this article reports on the engagement of non-governmental organizations and community care workers in the implementation of collaborative tuberculosis/HIV activities in rural South Africa, including extent of participation and constraints and opportunities to enhance effective participation. [adapted from abstract]

This study aimed at assessing the current situation of the health system of rural health care and evaluating the clinical competency of village doctors in management of childhood illnesses prior to implementing IMCI program in remote border rural areas. [from abstract]

This systematic review evaluates existing evidence regarding the effectiveness of alternative cadres working in community based rehabilitation in low and middle income countries. [from abstract]

The study estimates the cost of recruiting and training of community health workers (CHWs), the cost of replacement of CHWs, and forgone services in the community due to CHW dropout. [adapted from abstract]

This study compared the performance of community health workers managing malaria and pneumonia with performance of those managing malaria alone in eastern Uganda and the factors influencing performance. [from abstract]

The brief describes the difference a community health worker program has made to the lives of children in one remote region of Ghana.

This training program is designed for community health workers working in maternal and child health and covers topics such as family planning, reproductive health, gender violence, prevention of mother-to-child HIV among others.

This impact evaluation was conducted to assess volunteer community health workers’ effect on child morbidity, mortality and to calculate volunteer retention. [from abstract]

Task-shifting to lay community health providers is increasingly suggested as a potential strategy to overcome the barriers to sustainable antiretroviral treatment scale-up in high-HIV-prevalence, resource-limited settings. This article report on a systematic review of scientific evidence on the contributory role and function of these forms of community mobilisation. [adapted from abstract]

This study sought to understand what the field of mHealth had to offer, to explore how mHealth is implemented in practice and to use these two sources of information to reflect on the lessons and implications for implementing mHealth at scale for monitoring and evaluation of community based services and community health workers. [adapted from summary]

This brief presents an overview of issues related to community health workers and human resources for health along with suggested actions, key considerations, and resources. [from author]

The aim of this study was to explore contemporary lay health worker policy development processes and the extent to which issues of gender are taken up within this process. [from abstract]

This study reviews experiences and lessons learned regarding monetary and non-monetary incentives for community workers. It includes indicative costings and recommendations for further policy and development with regard to the effective recruitment, training and deployment of community workers in Zambia. [adapted from summary]

This literature review attempted to evaluate the evidence base on the use of task-shifting between community health workers and mid-level providers to increase access to family planning and reproductive health. [adapted from author]

This policy brief addresses the role of partnerships between health workers and the community, for the purposes of improving maternal, newborn and child health in resource-constrained settings, with a particular focus on the Asia-Pacific region. [from author]

This policy brief summarises the critical workforce issues
highlighted from a review of the literature of maternal,
newborn and child health services at community
level, with a particular focus on the Asia Pacific region. [from author]

The objectives of this study were to estimate the economic value of community health workers (CHW), current CHW’s workload and responsibilities, and to obtain a preliminary understanding of CHWs’ opinions of the role they serve in their communities (job satisfaction) and how these services are viewed by members of their communities. [adapted from summary]

This study examined the feasibility of using community health workers to implement cardiovascular disease prevention programs within faith-based organizations in Accra, Ghana. [from abstract]

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

As part of a community-based package of maternal-neonatal health care, community health workers (CHWs) were trained to conduct household surveillance and to identify and refer sick newborns according to a clinical algorithm. Assessments of newborns by CHWs at home were linked to hospital-based assessments by physicians, and factors impacting referral, referral compliance and outcome were evaluated. [from author]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]