the aid library

Form 4.1: Home Visit Checklist for Supervisors of CHWs, Mothers and for Children of All Ages, Negotiating for Behaviour Change

UK Aid, IMA World Health (2021) CC

This document is a checklist CHW supervisors can use to ensure that CHWs are implementing high quality home visits.

WHO guideline on health policy and system support to optimize community health worker programmes
recommended

World Health Organization WHO (2018) C_WHO

The guideline uses state-of-the-art evidence to identify effective policy options to strengthen community health worker (CHW) programme performance through their proper integration in health systems and communities. Successful delivery of services ... more

Rwanda’s evolving community health worker system: a qualitative assessment of client and provider perspectives

Condo J, et al. Human Resources for Health (2014) CC

This study highlights the challenges and areas in need of improvement as perceived by CHWs and beneficiaries, in regards to a nationwide scale-up of CHW interventions in a resource-challenged country. Identifying and understanding these barriers, an ... more

Comprehensive Evaluation of the Community Health Program in Rwanda (FINAL REPORT)

Centre for Maternal and Newborn Health (CMNH), from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM) (2016) C2

The objective of the evaluation is to understand whether the CHW program has achieved its intended objectives, thus contributing to the overarching objectives defined in the HSSP III of improving the health status of the population by “Ensuring un ... more

Community Health Worker Aim Tool

Community Health Impact Coalition (2021) CC

Health systems the world over have embraced the value of community health workers (CHWs) in extending essential services to the community level, improving health equity and progressing toward universal health coverage. Governments now have an opportunity to institutionalize ... more

Developing and Strengthening Community Health Worker Programs at Scale, A Reference Guide for Program Managers and Policy Makers

USAID, MCHIP (2013) CC

Recently, a renewed interest in large-scale community health worker (CHW) programs has been seen globally. This renewal provides an opportune moment to take stock of issues and challenges such programs face and what can be done to make them as effec ... more

Optimizing community health worker programmes for HIV services: a guide for health policy and system support.

World Health Organization WHO (2021) C_WHO

This document synthesizes key elements of the World Health Organization (WHO) normative guidance on health policy and system support for community health worker (CHW) programmes and their application for HIV programmes. Building on relevant elements ... more

Developing and Strengthening Community Health Worker Programs at Scale

Perry, H.; L. Crigler, et al. Maternal and Child Health Integrated Program (MCHIP) (2014)

A Reference Guide for Program Managers and Policy Makers. Recently, a renewed interest in large-scale community health worker (CHW) programs has been seen globally. This renewal provides an opportune moment to take stock of issues and challenges suc ... more

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

Ndambo, M.K.; Munyaneza, F.; Aron, M.B. et al. BMC Health Services Research (2022) CC

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 mu ... st balance the breadth and depth of tasks to maintain 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

HIV Prevention and Treatment Behavior Change and the Situated Information Motivation Behavioral Skills (sIMB) Model: A Qualitative Evaluation of a Community Health Worker Intervention in Rakai, Uganda

Pollard R., C. Kennedy, H. Hutton, et al. (2022) C2

AIDS Behav. 2022 Feb;26(2):375-384.doi: 10.1007/s10461-021-03391. A community health worker (CHW) model can promote HIV prevention and treatment behaviors, especially in highly mobile populations. In a fishing community in Rakai, Uganda, the Rak ... more

Community health workers’ efforts to build health system trust in marginalised communities: a qualitative study from South Africa

Watkins, J:W.; F. Griffiths, and J. Goudge BMJ Open (2021) C1

Community health workers (CHWs) enable marginalised communities, often experiencing structural poverty, to access healthcare. Trust, important in all patient–provider relationships, is difficult to build in such communities, particularly when stigma associated with HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and now ... more

The role of community health workers in COVID-19 vaccination: Implementation support guide

World Health Organization WHO (2021) C_WHO

This guide is intended to support national governments developing their national deployment and vaccination plans (NDVPs) for COVID-19 vaccines by outlining the roles, needs and opportunities for community health workers (CHWs) to contribute. This note builds on and is structured to align with the G ... more

Community health worker models in South Africa: a qualitative study on policy implementation of the 2018/19 revised framework

Murphy, J.P.; A. Moolla, S. Kgowedi et al. Health Policy and Planning (2020) C1

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 ... more

Training and Evaluation of Community Health Workers (CHWs): Towards Improving Maternal and Newborn Survival in an Urban Setting in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Thoko Ndaba1, Myra Taylor, Musawenkosi Mabaso The Open Public Health Journal (2019) C1

CHWs demonstrated social commitment and purpose in the short term observed. The evaluation of the training of CHWs revealed that most demonstrated the necessary skills for referrals to prevent complications, caring for newborns and their mothers at home immediately after discharge from health care c ... more

Effectiveness of community health worker training programmes for cardiovascular disease management in low-income and middle-income countries: a systematic review

Abdel-All, M; Putica, B.; Praveen, D. et al. BMJ Open (2017) CC

Introduction Community health workers (CHWs) are increasingly being tasked to prevent and manage cardiovascular disease (CVD) and its risk factors in underserved populations in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs); however, little is known about the required training necessary for them to ... more

The Critical Role of Community Health Workers in COVID-19 Vaccine Roll Out
recommended

African Union; Africa CDC Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (2021) CC

Since the emergence of COVID 19 in December 2019, various public health responses measures have been implemented to control the pandemic. Among measures taken by the Africa CDC was the launch of PACT initiative to accelerate COVID 19 testing. Key to the initiative is the engagement of Community Heal ... more

Implementation of the CHWs Guidelines using AMREF Health Africa Lessons Learnt (POPULAR VERSION)

Amref Health Africa (2020) CC

Implementation of the CHWs guidelines using Amref Health Africa lessons learnt focuses on providing CHWs with predictable financial and non financial incentives, frequent support supervision, continuous training and embedding them in health systems with clear roles. Empowering CHWs represents ... more

An exploration of facilitators and challenges in the scale-up of a national, public sector community health worker cadre in Zambia: a qualitative study

S. Chauwa Phiri, M.Lippitt Prust, C. Phiri Chibawe, et al. (2017) CC

Phiri et al. Human Resources for Health (2017) 15:40 DOI 10.1186/s12960-017-0214-3

Zambia’s Community Health Workers

World Vision (2016) C1