the aid library

Community health workers (CHWs) play a vital role in facilitating social connectedness, building trust, decrease stigma, and link communities to essential healthcare and social support services. More studies are needed to understand the factors facilitating these interactions among CHWs, clients, an... more

Background: Community Health Workers (CHWs) have a positive impact on the provision of community-based primary health care through screening, treatment, referral, psychosocial support, and accompaniment. With a broad scope of work, CHW programs must balance the breadth and depth of tasks to mainta...in CHW motivation for high-quality care delivery. Few studies have described the CHW perspective on intrinsic and extrinsic motivation to enhance their programmatic activities. Methods: We utilized an exploratory qualitative study design with CHWs employed in the household model in Neno District, Malawi, to explore their perspectives on intrinsic and extrinsic motivators and dissatisfiers in their work. Data was collected in 8 focus group discussions with 90 CHWs in October 2018 and March–April 2019 in seven purposively selected catchment areas. All interviews were audiotaped, transcribed verbatim, coded, and analyzed using Dedoose. Results: Themes of complex intrinsic and extrinsic factors were generated from the perspectives of the CHWs in the focus group discussions. Study results indicate that enabling factors are primarily intrinsic factors such as positive patient outcomes, community respect, and recognition by the formal health care system but can lead to the chal- lenge of increased scope and workload. Extrinsic factors can provide challenges, including an increased scope and workload from original expectations, lack of resources to utilize in their work, and rugged geography. However, a posi- tive work environment through supportive relationships between CHWs and supervisors enables the CHWs. Conclusion: This study demonstrated enabling factors and challenges for CHW performance from their perspec- tive within the dual-factor theory. We can mitigate challenges through focused efforts to limit geographical distance, manage workload, and strengthen CHW support to reinforce their recognition and trust. Such programmatic empha- sis can focus on enhancing motivational factors found in this study to improve the CHWs’ experience in their role. The engagement of CHWs, the communities, and the formal health care system is critical to improving the care provided to the patients and communities, along with building supportive systems to recognize the work done by CHWs for the primary health care systems. more

This report complements the previous poverty analysis studies by presenting a series of poverty maps of Rwanda at cell and sector levels, based on data from EICV4 and the 2012 Population and Housing Census. A poverty map is simply a map that shows the incidence of poverty in different areas of the c... more

Journal of the International AIDS Society Vol. 21 (2018) e25133
Many prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission programmes across Africa initiate HIV-infected (HIV positive) pregnant women on lifelong antiretroviral therapy (ART) on the first day of antenatal care (“same-day” initiation... more

The role of community health workers in influencing social connectedness using the household model: a qualitative case study from Malawi

Qualitative assessment of community health workers’ perspective on their motivation in community-based primary health care in rural Malawi

Antiretroviral drugs for treating pregnant women and preventing HIV infection in infants: recommendations for a public health approach

Stigma and discrimination: Key Barriers to achieving global for maternal health and eliminating of new child HIV infections

Poverty Mapping Report, 2013/14

Malawi National STEPS Survey for Chronic Non-Communicable Diseases and their Risk Factors

Same‐day antiretroviral therapy (ART) initiation in pregnancy is not associated with viral suppression or engagement in care: A cohort study