Evaluation of the effectiveness of community health workers in the fight against malaria in the Central African Republic (2012–2017)

2019 ◽  
Vol 114 (3) ◽  
pp. 173-184
Author(s):  
Djerandouba Yotobumbeti Ferdinand ◽  
Bessimbaye Nadlaou ◽  
Nzalapan Samuel ◽  
Bekaka Youlet Oscar ◽  
Mbailao Raphael ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Services ◽  
Community Health ◽  
Community Health Workers ◽  
Health Care Access ◽  
Central African Republic ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Preventive Health Services ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Adequate Treatment ◽  
Care Access

Abstract Background This last decade’s ongoing conflict in the Central African Republic (CAR) has led to gradual and continuous destruction of health services. With severe gaps in qualified health professionals, community health workers (CHWs) have become essential to ensuring health care access to the affected population. This article aims to evaluate the effectiveness of a 10-y CHW program in the CAR. Methods Routine case management data from CHWs were collected in the Paoua district from January 2012 to December 2017 and analysed. Structured interviews were conducted in the Paoua and Carnot health districts among individuals from three different groups (health service beneficiaries, CHWs and health facility managers). Results From 2012 to 2017, 353 948 people consulted for malaria suspicion with CHWs and 86% were found to be malaria positive after a rapid diagnostic test. Among those diagnosed patients, 98.5% received adequate treatment and nearly 1.5% were referred to health facilities. Also, 94.5% of respondents identified fever as the major malaria symptom. About 70% of the population could identify three malaria signs/symptoms and 84.4% accepted and used CHW services. Interviews with CHWs revealed that 45.8% of them received at least four training sessions per month as part of their capacity building. Conclusions CHWs can be a resourceful solution when other health professional are scarce. This study showed that CHWs are not only able to deliver curative and preventive health services, but they are also well accepted by the served communities.

scholarly journals Design of Mobile Application for Community Health Workers: A Case Study in Rwanda

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (11) ◽  
pp. 271
Author(s):  
Gahizi Emmanuel ◽  
Andi Wahju Rahardjo Emanuel ◽  
Djoko Budiyanto Setyohadi
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Services ◽  
Community Health ◽  
Community Health Workers ◽  
Human Service ◽  
Mobile Application ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
User Centered Design ◽  
Public Health Services ◽  
Adequate Knowledge

Community health workers (CHWs) are the basis of public health services that aim to connect the gap between public health and the human service system. This gap can be completely bridged by navigating the health and human service systems and educating communities on disease prevention. Unfortunately, the way of sharing, accessing information, and delivering health services is still non-digitalized in Rwanda. Community Health workers use a manual system in their daily activities, which is prone to error and falsification. Moreover, these people selected to perform these activities often do not have adequate knowledge about diseases and health systems since they are not professional health workers. To address the above problem, we designed a prototype mobile application to enable these workers to automatically submit reports, transfer knowledge, share information, and receive training from professionals.  The design process followed a User-Centered Design approach to meet the users’ requirements. The evaluation of the design showed that 91.7% of the CHWs agreed with the designed application prototype.  This finding shows that CHWs has an interest in using the mobile application in their work. Using the mobile application will help CHWs to improve data collection, the reporting process, and ease of receiving training.

scholarly journals Experiences of midwives and community health workers using mHealth to improve services to pregnant women in rural Burkina Faso, Africa

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 57
Author(s):  
Antonia LDC Arnaert ◽  
Norma Ponzoni ◽  
Zoumanan Debe ◽  
Mouoboum Marc Meda ◽  
Noufou Gustave Nana ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Burkina Faso ◽  
Pregnant Women ◽  
Community Health ◽  
Community Health Workers ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Community Health Center ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Center Staff ◽  
Work Related ◽  
Qualitative Descriptive

Objective: This qualitative, descriptive study explored the experiences of midwives and community health workers (CHWs) using mhealth to improve the care provided to pregnant women living in the rural Diapangou region of Burkina Faso, Africa.Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 4 CHWs and 4 community health center staff. Transcripts were content analyzed.Results: Despite internet connectivity challenges all participants agreed that mhealth allowed them to provide better maternal care. The service enhanced their practice collectively, through facilitating better follow-up care, promoting communication and collaboration, and facilitated management while simplifying administrative tasks. From a managerial perspective, having access to productivity information allowed for effective oversight and supervision of work-related activities. CHWs perceived additional work responsibilities and an opportunity for growth; however, both CHWs and staff recognized that the exposure to technology allowed them to achieve mastery of basic computer skills.Conclusions: The ‘digital divide’ remains a challenge in low resource settings, thus while findings are promising, Burkina Faso will have to wait to reap the full benefits of digital technology until a supportive infrastructure can be put in place.

scholarly journals Community Health Workers Can Provide Psychosocial Support to the People During COVID-19 and Beyond in Low- and Middle- Income Countries

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabuj Kanti Mistry ◽  
Ben Harris-Roxas ◽  
Uday Narayan Yadav ◽  
Sadia Shabnam ◽  
Lal Bahadur Rawal ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Health Services ◽  
Community Health ◽  
Community Health Workers ◽  
Health Systems ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Psychosocial Support ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Middle Income Countries ◽  
The People

The COVID-19 pandemic has been the most challenging public health issue which not only affected the physical health of the global population but also aggravated the mental health conditions such as stress, anxiety, fear, depression and anger. While mental health services are seriously hampered amid this COVID-19 pandemic, health services, particularly those of Low- and Middle- Income Countries (LMICs) are looking for alternatives to provide psychosocial support to the people amid this COVID-19 and beyond. Community Health Workers (CHWs) are an integral part of the health systems in many LMICs and played significant roles such as health education, contact tracing, isolation and mobilization during past emergencies and amid COVID-19 in many LMICs. However, despite their potentials in providing psychosocial support to the people amid this COVID-19 pandemic, they have been underutilized in most health systems in LMICs. The CHWs can be effectively engaged to provide psychosocial support at the community level. Engaging them can also be cost-saving as they are already in place and may cost less compared to other health professionals. However, they need training and supervision and their safety and security needs to be protected during this COVID-19. While many LMICs have mental health policies but their enactment is limited due to the fragility of health systems and limited health care resources. CHWs can contribute in this regard and help to address the psychosocial vulnerabilities of affected population in LMICs during COVID-19 and beyond.

scholarly journals Tingkat Pengetahuan Kader tentang Posyandu di Puskesmas Temindung Kota Samarinda

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 119-125
Author(s):  
Fransiska Keron Ola Ola
Keyword(s):  
Health Service ◽  
Health Services ◽  
Community Health ◽  
Community Health Workers ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Research Subjects ◽  
Public Health Services ◽  
Basic Health ◽  
Service Activities ◽  
Level Of Knowledge

Community health workers are selected by the community from community members who are willing to voluntarily be able to help and have time to organize basic health service activities. The purpose of this study was to determine the level of knowledge community health workers in basic health service the health centers in Temindung, Samarinda.  The research subjects of community health workers were 32 people who were on duty in basic health service activities in 10 basic health service centers in Temindung Samarinda. Measuring the level of knowledge of community health workers using a questionnaire. Percentage analysis to determine the level of knowledge about basic health service. Most community health workers are chosen directly with the essential requirements of being able to read, write and be friendly and voluntarily help and be in their community. Although their knowledge of basic health services is still low with 87.5% of basic health service. Knowledge of community health workers is still low Even though their knowledge is lacking, they still do health services at basic health services once a month. Basic health services are an important part of health services in the community, especially helping health workers in public health services to the community, but so they are expected to get training in basic health services to improve the Indonesian health republic's work program

scholarly journals Experiences of women receiving mhealth-supported antenatal care in the village from community health workers in rural Burkina Faso, Africa

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 205520761989275 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonia Arnaert ◽  
Norma Ponzoni ◽  
Zoumanan Debe ◽  
Mouoboum M Meda ◽  
Noufou G Nana ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Antenatal Care ◽  
Burkina Faso ◽  
Community Health ◽  
Community Health Workers ◽  
Formal Education ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Community Clinic ◽  
The Village ◽  
Experiences Of Women

Objective This qualitative study explored the experiences of women receiving mhealth-supported antenatal care in a village, from community health workers (CHWs) in rural Burkina Faso, Africa. Intervention CHWs entered patient clinical data manually in their smartphone during their home visits. All wireless transferred data was monitored by the midwives in the community clinic for arising medical complications. Methods Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 19 pregnant women, who were housewives, married and their age ranged from 18 to 39 years. None had completed their formal education. Depending on the weeks of gestation during their first antenatal care visit, length of enrollment in the project varied between three and eight months. Transcripts were content-analyzed. Results Despite the fact that mhealth was a novel service for all participants, they expressed appreciation for these interventions, which they found beneficial on three levels: 1) it allowed for early detection of pregnancy-related complications, 2) it was perceived as promoting collaboration between CHWs and midwives, and 3) it was a source of reassurance during a time when they are concerned about their health. Although not unanimous, certain participants said their husbands were more interested in their antenatal care as a result of these services. Conclusion Findings suggested that mhealth-supported visits of the CHWs have the potential to increase mothers’ knowledge about their pregnancy and, as such, motivate them to attend more ANC visits. In response to this increased patient engagement, midwives approached women differently, which led to the mothers’ perception of improvement in the patient–provider relationship. Results also indicated that mhealth may increase spousal involvement, as services are offered at home, which is an environment where spouses feel more comfortable.

scholarly journals A Qualitative Study on The Role of Community Health Workers In Influencing Social Connectedness Using The Household Model: A Case Study of Neno District, Malawi

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Myness Stella Kasanda Ndambo ◽  
Fabien Munyaneza ◽  
Moses Aron ◽  
Henry Makungwa ◽  
Annie Michaelis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Health Services ◽  
Community Health ◽  
Community Health Workers ◽  
Social Connectedness ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Individual Agency ◽  
Stigma And Discrimination ◽  
Household Model

Abstract Background: There is growing global recognition that community health workers (CHWs) play a key role in facilitating social connectedness. Through direct interactions and relationship building, CHWs link people to key services such as healthcare and social support. Several models aim to understand how CHWs facilitate these interactions, but the theory of change is not yet fully understood. In Neno District, Malawi, CHWs recently transitioned from a disease-focused model to what we call the “household model.” Under the household model, each CHW is assigned to several households to provide screening and linkage to care, as well as psychosocial and chronic disease support. We theorise that this public health approach facilitates social connectedness in the households and rural communities served by CHWs. We aim to understand drivers of influence on social connections from the CHW-, healthcare worker-, and patient perspectives. Methods: This was a cross-sectional qualitative study utilising focus group discussions (FGDs) and in-depth semi-structured interviews with purposively sampled community stakeholders, CHWs, health service providers, and patients (total N=180) from October 2018 through March 2020. Results: Participants reported improved social interactions and connectedness and increased access to health care in their communities following the transition to the household model. This was driven by factors including reduced stigma and discrimination, empowerment of households and community members, and fostering both social cohesiveness and individual agency in accessing health services. The main themes that emanated from this study are; expansion of care by CHWs, trust in CHW’s provision of care, and equal treatment of community members by CHWs. Conclusion: Our study demonstrates that through the polyvalent household model, CHWs foster high levels of social connectedness in the communities, evidenced by a reported reduction in stigma and discrimination and an increase in individual agency in accessing health services.

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