scholarly journals Community health workers in Lesotho: Experiences of health promotion activities

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Thato Seutloali ◽  
Lizeka Napoles ◽  
Nomonde Bam
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Health Promotion ◽  
Community Health ◽  
Community Health Workers ◽  
Access To Health Care ◽  
Health Care Services ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Care Services ◽  
Home Based ◽  
Access To Health

Background: Lesotho adopted primary health care in 1979, and community health workers (CHWs) were included in the programme to focus on health promotion, particularly to reach people in underserved rural areas. Although the CHW programme has been successful, the heavy burden of disease because of HIV and/or AIDS and tuberculosis shifted resources from health promotion to home-based care.Aim: The study explored the lived experience of CHWs in conducting health promotion activities in Lesotho.Setting: The study was conducted in four health centres in Berea district, Lesotho.Methods: A qualitative study was conducted using an interviewer guide translated from English into Sesotho for four CHW focus group discussions, four individual interviews of key informants and four semi-structured interviews with the health centre nurses.Results: The roles of CHWs in health promotion ranged from offering basic first aid and home-based care to increasing access to health care services by taking patients to the facilities and promoting behaviour change through health education. Their perceived successes included increased access to health care services and reduced mortality rates. CHW challenges involved their demotivation to carry out their work because of lack of or inconsistent financial incentives and supplies, work overload which compromises quality of their work and limited community involvement.Conclusion: This study concludes that CHWs are beneficial to health promotion and its various activities. They had a clear understanding of their roles and responsibilities, although they did not fully comprehend that what they were describing was, in fact, health promotion. When it came to advocacy, CHWs did not fully understand it, nor did they consider it as part of their roles, although they acknowledged its importance. Their role of increasing access to health care services by accompanying patients to the facilities has increased considerably because of changes in disease burden. This is affecting their ability to practise other health promotion activities which focus on disease prevention.

A Global Review of Training of Community Health Workers

2007 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 181-218 ◽  
Author(s):  
Virginia C. Li ◽  
Peter R. Goethals ◽  
Sharon Dorfman
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Community Health ◽  
Community Health Workers ◽  
Health Care Services ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Training Techniques ◽  
Care Services ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Training And Support

Community Health Workers (CHWs) are often the most important deliverers of health care services. This review brings together relevant information on CHWs and their training. These materials concern themselves with training techniques as they have been developed in various programs in various countries around the world. Because of the relative newness of the field the bulk of the materials have been written only in the last ten years. Four phases in training CHWs to undertake primary health care work are reviewed. These are: assessing the community's health needs and priorities and specifying the CHWs' tasks, adapting CHW training to the community, selecting CHWs and providing the CHWs with training and support. Issues of concern relating to these phases are: who is the trainer, what training strategies are to be followed, how is the training to be monitored and evaluated and, finally, what is the cost. A guide to twenty-two manuals that have been developed in various countries for use in training CHWs is included.

scholarly journals Community Health Workers and The Promotion of Health Care Services in Gasabo District, Rwanda

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (10) ◽  
pp. 1-5
Author(s):  
Moses Kamanzi
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Mortality Rate ◽  
Community Health ◽  
Community Health Workers ◽  
Health Care Services ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Psychosocial Support ◽  
Infant Mortality Rate ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Care Services

Health care is a primary need of human being. Life expectancy as an indicator of Human Development is below 40 years in most developing countries due to high Maternal Mortality Rate, HIV prevalence, Infant Mortality rate, Malaria prevalence and many other related diseases. This study examined the importance of Community Health Workers (CHWs) role in promoting Health Care services in Gasabo District of Rwanda.  A simple random sampling method with the use of a self-administered questionnaire to get primary data was used as well as a literature review for secondary data. The target population was 1500 CHWs with a sample size of 183 CHWs.  55.6% of CHWs have a role of monitoring Malnutrition & growth for children under the age of 5years, 43.2% monitor women during their pregnancy period and diagnose and treat Malaria, Diarrhoea & Pneumonia for children under 5 years old. Other roles of CHWs include; providing health education (43% of CHWs), providing Family Planning services to women (24%), and sensitizing the community for HIV/AIDS testing (14.3%), psychosocial support (11%) and Vaccination (9.8%). The challenges faced by CHWs to accomplish their roles include; transportation facilitation (39.9%), limited time (32.8%), negative perception by communities (37.7%) and no monthly salary pay (38.8%). Although the work of CHWs in Rwanda is voluntary, however, the Ministry of Health should invest more in their work through the provision of transportation facilitation and motivational incentives CHWs.

A Global Review of Training of Community Health Workers

1983 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
Virginia C. Li ◽  
Peter R. Goethals ◽  
Sharon Dorfman
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Community Health ◽  
Community Health Workers ◽  
Health Care Services ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Training Techniques ◽  
Care Services ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Training And Support

Community Health Workers (CHWs) are often the most important deliverers of health care services. This review brings together relevant information on CHWs and their training. These materials concern themselves with training techniques as they have been developed in various programs in various countries around the world. Because of the relative newness of the field the bulk of the materials have been written only in the last ten years. Four phases in training CHWs to undertake primary health care work are reviewed. These are: assessing the community's health needs and priorities and specifying the CHWs' tasks, adapting CHW training to the community, selecting CHWs and providing the CHWs with training and support. Issues of concern relating to these phases are: who is the trainer, what training strategies are to be followed, how is the training to be monitored and evaluated and, finally, what is the cost. A guide to twenty-two manuals that have been developed in various countries for use in training CHWs is included.

Access to health care and Informal Patient Payments for health care in Serbia

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
S Buch Mejsner ◽  
S Lavasani Kjær ◽  
L Eklund Karlsson
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Health System ◽  
Access To Health Care ◽  
Health Care Services ◽  
Local Population ◽  
Civil Servants ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
Care Services ◽  
Access To Health

Abstract Background Evidence often shows that migrants in the European region have poor access to quality health care. Having a large number of migrants seeking towards Europe, crossing through i.e. Serbia, it is crucial to improve migrants' access to health care and ensure equality in service provision Aim To investigate what are the barriers and facilitators of access to health care in Serbia, perceived by migrants, policy makers, health care providers, civil servants and experts working with migrants. Methods six migrants in an asylum center and eight civil servants in the field of migration were conducted. A complementary questionnaire to key civil servants working with migrants (N = 19) is being distributed to complement the data. The qualitative and quantitative data will be analysed through Grounded Theory and Logistic Regression respectively. Results According to preliminary findings, migrants reported that they were able to access the health care services quite easily. Migrants were mostly fully aware of their rights to access these health care services. However, the interviewed civil servants experienced that, despite the majority of migrants in camps were treated fairly, some migrants were treated inappropriately by health care professionals (being addressed inappropriately, poor or lacking treatment). The civil servants believed that local Serbs, from their own experiences, were treated poorer than migrants (I.e. paying Informal Patient Payments, poor quality of and access to health care services). The interviewed migrants were trusting towards the health system, because they felt protected by the official system that guaranteed them services. The final results will be presented at the conference. Conclusions There was a difference in quality of and access to health care services of local Serbs and migrants in the region. Migrants may be protected by the official health care system and thus have access to and do not pay additional fees for health care services. Key messages Despite comprehensive evidence on Informal Patient Payments (IPP) in Serbia, further research is needed to highlight how health system governance and prevailing policies affect IPP in migrants. There may be clear differences in quality of and access to health care services between the local population and migrants in Serbia.

Substantive Equality in South African Health Care: The Limits of Law

2000 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 111-131 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles Ngwena
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
South African ◽  
Access To Health Care ◽  
Health Care Services ◽  
Health Care Reforms ◽  
Structural Inequality ◽  
Care Services ◽  
Substantive Equality ◽  
African Health ◽  
Access To Health

The article considers the scope and limits of law as an instrument for facilitating equitable access to health care in South Africa. The focus is on exploring the extent to which the notion of substantive equality in access to health care services that is implicitly guaranteed by the Constitution and supported by current health care reforms, is realisable for patients seeking treatment. The article highlights the gap between the idea of substantive equality in the Constitution and the resources at the disposal of the health care sector and the country as a whole. It is submitted that though formal equality in access to health care services has been realised, substantive equality is currently unattainable, if it is attainable at all, on account of entrenched structural inequality, general poverty and a high burden of disease.

Medicaid Policy Statement

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1994 ◽  
Vol 93 (1) ◽  
pp. 135-136
Author(s):  
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Access To Health Care ◽  
Health Care Services ◽  
Policy Statement ◽  
Medicaid Program ◽  
Term Care ◽  
Care Services ◽  
Access To Health ◽  
Children First ◽  
Poor Children

The American Academy of Pediatrics recognizes the achievements of the Medicaid program in improving access to health care services for poor children. Despite recent legislative expansions to extend eligibility to more poor and disabled children and to broaden the scope of preventive and treatment services in all states, several additional program improvements are needed to eliminate the following barriers to access: 1. Federal and state fiscal crises are creating major roadblocks to Medicaid program implementation and expansion. 2. Thousands of poor children will not be eligible for Medicaid until October 1, 2001.1 3. Only a portion of those who are potentially eligible for Medicaid apply for coverage, and many eligible children do not utilize services. 4. Fewer Medicaid funds are available for primary and preventive care because of the increasing need for long-term care services. 5. Early and periodic screening, diagnosis and treatment (EPSDT)/preventive health services are being received by too few children and the implementation of expanded service coverage under EPSDT, granted in 1989, is subject to a great deal of inconsistent state interpretation. 6. Inadequate provider reimbursement reduces children's access to health care services. The Academy has developed the "Children First" proposal which calls for the elimination of Medicaid and replaces it with a one-class, private insurance system of universal access to health care for all children through age 21 and for all pregnant women.2 However, until the "Children First" proposal, or a similar health care reform initiative is implemented, the Academy recommends the following policy actions to improve the current Medicaid program.

scholarly journals Does better availability mean better accessibility? Spatial inequalities in the care of acute myocardial infarction in Hungary

2020 ◽  
Vol 69 (4) ◽  
pp. 401-418
Author(s):  
Annamária Uzzoli ◽  
Zoltán Egri ◽  
Dániel Szilágyi ◽  
Viktor Pál
Keyword(s):  
Myocardial Infarction ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Acute Myocardial Infarction ◽  
Statistical Analysis ◽  
Health Literacy ◽  
Access To Health Care ◽  
Health Care Services ◽  
Care Services ◽  
Spatial Inequalities ◽  
Access To Health

The availability of health care services is an important issue, however, improving availability of health care services does not necessarily mean better accessibility for everybody. The main aim of this study is to find out how better availability in the care of acute myocardial infarction vary with accessibility of patients’ geographical location within Hungary. We applied statistical analysis and interview techniques to unfold the role of spatiality in the conditions of access to health care. Results of statistical analysis indicate significant health inequalities in Hungary. Decreasing national mortality rates of acute myocardial infarction, has been coupled by increasing spatial inequalities within the country especially at micro-regional level. According to in-depth interviews with local health care stakeholders we defined factors that support access to health care as well as important barriers. The supporting factors are related to the improvement of availability (i.e. infrastructural developments), while geographical distance, lack of material and human resources, or low level of health literacy proved to be the most relevant barriers. Main conclusion is that barriers to accessibility and availability are not only spatial but are also based on individual stages of acute myocardial infarction care. The development of cardiac catheter centres in Hungary has improved the short-term chances of infarction survival, but long-term survival chances have worsened in recent years due to deficiencies in rehabilitation care as well as low level of health literacy.

Risk factors of underutilization of childhood immunizations in ultraorthodox Jewish communities in Israel despite high access to health care services

Vaccine ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 30 (12) ◽  
pp. 2109-2115 ◽  
Author(s):  
Khitam Muhsen ◽  
Reem Abed El-Hai ◽  
Anat Amit-Aharon ◽  
Haim Nehama ◽  
Mervat Gondia ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factors ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Access To Health Care ◽  
Health Care Services ◽  
Jewish Communities ◽  
Childhood Immunizations ◽  
Care Services ◽  
Access To Health
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