This is the ninth paper in our series, “Community Health Workers at the Dawn of a New Era”. Community health workers (CHWs) are in an intermediary position between the health system and the community. While this position provides CHWs with a good platform to improve community health, a major cha...llenge in large-scale CHW programmes is the need for CHWs to establish and maintain benefcial relationships with both sets of actors, who may have diferent expectations and needs. This paper focuses on the quality of CHW relationships with actors at the local level of the national health system and with communities.
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24 Nov. 2021
Action against gender-based violence being pushed to the outlying margins of the global COVID-19 response
A new Oxfam report shows an undeniable increase in gender-based violence (GBV) during the COVID-19 pandemic around the world to which too many governments and donors are not doi...ng enough to tackle.
The report, The Ignored Pandemic: The Dual Crisis of Gender-Based Violence and COVID-19, showed the number of calls made by survivors to domestic violence hotlines in ten countries during the first months of lockdown. The data reveals a 25 – 111 percentage surge; in Argentina (25%), Colombia (79%), Tunisia (43%), China (50%), Somalia (50%), South Africa (69%), UK (25%), Cyprus (39%), Italy (73%) and the largest increase in Malaysia where calls surged by over 111%.
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WHO is launching a “Revised edition, 2021” for the Caring for women subjected to violence: A WHO training curriculum for health-care providers today. The revised edition includes 4 new modules three of which are for health managers to assess and strengthen health facility readiness and one modul...e, which is for managers and providers to support prevention of violence against women. The earlier content published in 2019 remains unchanged. The 2021 edition is aimed at creating an enabling health systems environment for health workers to provide quality care to women subjected to violence.
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The impact of disasters and crises on agriculture and food security: 2021
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
From the start of the COVID-19 pandemic until August 2021, extreme weather events have affected at least 139.2 million people and killed at least 17,242 people in at least 433 unique events. These figures are certainly an underestimate, as they do not include estimates of numbers of people affected ...by extreme temperatures, or mortality during drought events.
One dimension of the compound risk of COVID-19 and climate extremes was the additional challenge of preparing for and responding to disasters during the pandemic, such as the constraints of physical distancing during evacuations and response operations.
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The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the world and consequently increased MHPSS needs across various contexts. While National Societies respond to the rising mental health and psychosocial support needs, they are also adapting to and implementing remote support, such as telephone hotlines or other onl...ine services. Accordingly, many trainings in psychological first aid (PFA) of staff and volunteers have moved to online platforms.
Throughout the pandemic, the PS Centre developed online approaches, guidances, adaptable tools, videos, podcasts, and other materials on MHPSS. This was to ensure easy access to tools and resources that assist National Societies in their training efforts in MHPSS during COVID-19.
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The COVID-19 pandemic has affected job satisfaction among healthcare workers; yet this has not been empirically examined in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). We addressed this gap by examining job satisfaction and associated factors among healthcare workers in Ghana and Kenya during the COVID-19 pandemic. W...e conducted a cross-sectional study with healthcare workers (N = 1012). The two phased data collection included: (1) survey data collected in Ghana from April 17 to May 31, 2020, and (2) survey data collected in Ghana and Kenya from November 9, 2020, to March 8, 2021. We utilized a quantitative measure of job satisfaction, as well as validated psychosocial measures of perceived preparedness, stress, and burnout; and conducted descriptive, bivariable, and multivariable analysis using ordered logistic regression. We found high levels of job dissatisfaction (38.1%), low perceived preparedness (62.2%), stress (70.5%), and burnout (69.4%) among providers. High perceived preparedness was positively associated with higher job satisfaction (adjusted proportional odds ratio (APOR) = 2.83, CI [1.66,4.84]); while high stress and burnout were associated with lower job satisfaction (APOR = 0.18, CI [0.09,0.37] and APOR = 0.38, CI [0.252,0.583] for high stress and burnout respectively). Other factors positively associated with job satisfaction included prior job satisfaction, perceived appreciation from management, and perceived communication from management. Fear of infection was negatively associated with job satisfaction. The COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted job satisfaction among healthcare workers. Inadequate preparedness, stress, and burnout are significant contributing factors. Given the already strained healthcare system and low morale among healthcare workers in SSA, efforts are needed to increase preparedness, better manage stress and burnout, and improve job satisfaction, especially during the pandemic.
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Saving Lives Through Safe Surgery (SaLTS)
Training Manual and Reference Guide
Evidence shows that FGM can cause several physical, mental and sexual health complications in girls and women, and in newborns. Health-care providers play an important role in supporting girls and women living with FGM, and improving their health and well-being. They are in a unique position to infl...uence and change the attitudes of their patients about FGM.
WHO is committed to scaling up the health-sector response to address FGM prevention and care. One aspect is to strengthen the quality of FGM prevention and care services by building the capacity of health-care providers. Several guidance materials have been produced to target health-care providers. These include FGM content for training curricula, clinical guidelines and a clinical handbook.
This training manual complements previous publications by building person-centred communication skills specifically for FGM prevention.
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Almost eight years of active fighting have had profound consequences on the lives of millions of people in the conflict-affected Donetska and Luhanska oblasts of eastern Ukraine. An estimated 2.9 million people are projected to need humanitarian assistance in 2022, with some 55 per cent living in th...e non-Government controlled area (NGCA).1 1 According to the national Ukrainian legislation, such areas have been defined as the temporarily occupied territories of Donetska and Luhanska oblasts.
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South Africa has a long history of community health workers (CHWs). It has been a journey that has required balancing constrained resources and competing priorities. CHWs form a bridge between communities and healthcare service provision within health facilities and act as the cornerstone of South A...frica’s Ward-Based Primary Healthcare Outreach Teams. This study aimed to document the CHW policy implementation landscape across six provinces in South Africa and explore the reasons for local adaptation of CHW models and to identify potential barriers and facilitators to implementation of the revised framework to help guide and inform future planning.
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Glaucoma, a disease that gradually affects the optic nerve, is the second leading cause of vision loss globally, and it continues to pose a challenge to the eye health professionals.
PFA for Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies has several parts that can be used separately or together. It comprises this guide, a small booklet on PFA, and four training modules on PFA. This guide has general information about psychological first aid. It can be used on its own for psycho-education ...and as a reference for the training modules that accompany it. The training modules include instructions, notes, and training resources for the facilitators.
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This half-day training module introduces participants to basic skills in psychological first aid (PFA). It is suitable for all Red Cross and Red Crescent staff and volunteers working in any sector. It aims to enable participants to:
know what psychological first aid is and what it is not
... understand the three action principles of ‘Look, Listen and Link’
practise providing PFA to someone in distress
be aware of the importance of self-care when helping others.
This training module is one of four on psychological first aid, which accompany a set of materials on PFA. This include an introductory booklet called A Guide to Psychological First Aid for Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and a small booklet, A Short Introduction to Psychological First Aid for Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
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It aims to enable participants to:
know more about reactions to distress
know what psychological first aid is and what it is not
understand the three action principles of ‘Look, Listen and Link’
have practised providing PFA to someone in distress
have considered comple...x reactions and situations
be aware of the importance of self-care when helping others.
This training module is one of four on psychological first aid, which accompany a set of materials on psychological first aid
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Psychological first aid is a simple, yet powerful way of helping someone in distress. It involves paying attention to the person’s reactions, active listening and if relevant, practical assistance to help address immediate problems and basic needs. Learning psychological first aid skills and under...standing reactions to crises empowers helpers to help others and apply the same skills to their own lives.
A Short Introduction to Psychological First Aid contains chapters about What is PFA, Who needs PFA and How to provide PFA. It also contains a short introduction to PFA for children and PFA in Groups.
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The target audience for this training course is non-clinicians such as Home Based Carers, Community Caregivers, Youth Care Workers, Peer educators, Community Health Workers etc. primarily those who will be providing adherence counselling to clients with HIV, TB, Hypertension and Diabetes. This group... of non-clinicians play a vital role in helping to reduce the workload of nursing staff. Amongst others, non- clinicians educate clients and provide emotional support in a manner that makes each client feel like they are receiving focused, individual attention. Non-clinicians are often in close contact with communities and, therefore, able to understand and play a role in alleviating health service barriers in the community.
Facility managers may also be part of the target audience in order to ensure that they understand the components of the minimum package of interventions to support linkage, adherence and retention in care.
Further, their attendance seeks to ensure that non-clinicians receive necessary assistance and support when they have to implement what they have learned back into their workplaces.
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