BackgroundWith the 40th anniversary of the Declaration of Alma-Ata, a global effort is underway to re-focus on strengthening primary health care systems, with emphasis on leveraging community health workers (CHWs) towards the goal of achieving universal health coverage for all. Institutionalizing effective, sustainable community health systems is currently limited by a lack of standard metrics for measuring CHW performance and the systems they work within. Developed through iterative consultations, supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and in partnership with USAID and UNICEF, this paper details a framework, list of indicators, and measurement considerations for monitoring CHW performance in low- and middle-income countries.MethodsA review of peer-reviewed articles, reports, and global data collection tools was conducted to identify key measurement domains in monitoring CHW performance. Three consultations were successively convened with global stakeholders, community health implementers, advocates, measurement experts, and Ministry of Health representatives using a modified Delphi approach to build consensus on priority indicators. During this process, a structured, web-based survey was administered to identify the importance and value of specific measurement domains, sub-domains, and indicators determined through the literature reviews and initial stakeholder consultations. Indicators with more than 75% support from participants were further refined with expert qualitative input.ResultsTwenty-one sub-domains for measurement were identified including measurement of incentives for CHWs, supervision and performance appraisal, data use, data reporting, service delivery, quality of services, CHW absenteeism and attrition, community use of services, experience of services, referral/counter-referral, credibility/trust, and programmatic costs. Forty-six indicators were agreed upon to measure the sub-domains. In the absence of complete population enumeration and digitized health information systems, the quality of metrics to monitor CHW programs is limited.ConclusionsBetter data collection approaches at the community level are needed to strengthen management of CHW programs and community health systems. The proposed list of metrics balances exhaustive and pragmatic measurement of CHW performance within primary healthcare systems. Adoption of the proposed framework and associated indicators by CHW program implementors may improve programmatic effectiveness, strengthen their accountability to national community health systems, drive programmatic quality improvement, and plausibly improve the impact of these programs.

The COVID-19 pandemic highlights the implications of chronic underinvestment in health workforce development, particularly in resource-constrained health systems. Inadequate health workforce diversity, insufficient training and remuneration, and limited support and protection reduce health system capacity to equitably maintain health service delivery while meeting urgent health emergency demands. Applying the Health Worker Life Cycle Approach provides a useful conceptual framework that adapts a health labour market approach to outline key areas and recommendations for health workforce investment—building, managing and optimising—to systematically meet the needs of health workers and the systems they support. It also emphasises the importance of protecting the workforce as a cross-cutting investment, which is especially important in a health crisis like COVID-19. While the global pandemic has spurred intermittent health workforce investments required to immediately respond to COVID-19, applying this ‘lifecycle approach’ to guide policy implementation and financing interventions is critical to centering health workers as stewards of health systems, thus strengthening resilience to public health threats, sustainably responding to community needs and providing more equitable, patient-centred care.

Background The strength of a health system—and ultimately the health of a population—depends to a large degree on health worker performance. However, insufficient support to build, manage and optimize human resources for health (HRH) in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) results in inadequate health workforce performance, perpetuating health inequities and low-quality health services. Methods The USAID-funded Human Resources for Health in 2030 Program (HRH2030) conducted a systematic review of studies documenting supervision enhancements and approaches that improved health worker performance to highlight components associated with these interventions’ effectiveness. Structured by a conceptual framework to classify the inputs, processes, and results, the review assessed 57 supervision studies since 2010 in approximately 29 LMICs. Results Of the successful supervision approaches described in the 57 studies reviewed, 44 were externally funded pilots, which is a limitation. Thirty focused on community health worker (CHW) programs. Health worker supervision was informed by health system data for 38 approaches (67%) and 22 approaches used continuous quality improvement (QI) (39%). Many successful approaches integrated digital supervision technologies (e.g., SmartPhones, mHealth applications) to support existing data systems and complement other health system activities. Few studies were adapted, scaled, or sustained, limiting reports of cost-effectiveness or impact. Conclusion Building on results from the review, to increase health worker supervision effectiveness we recommend to: integrate evidence-based, QI tools and processes; integrate digital supervision data into supervision processes; increase use of health system information and performance data when planning supervision visits to prioritize lowest-performing areas; scale and replicate successful models across service delivery areas and geographies; expand and institutionalize supervision to reach, prepare, protect, and support frontline health workers, especially during health emergencies; transition and sustain supervision efforts with domestic human and financial resources, including communities, for holistic workforce support. In conclusion, effective health worker supervision is informed by health system data, uses continuous quality improvement (QI), and employs digital technologies integrated into other health system activities and existing data systems to enable a whole system approach. Effective supervision enhancements and innovations should be better integrated, scaled, and sustained within existing systems to improve access to quality health care.

Strategic efforts are needed in Indonesia to implement the recently released human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) Test and Treat policy which promotes increased treatment uptake, known to have important economic benefits. Of Indonesia’s estimated 631,635 people living with HIV (PLHIV) in 2018, only 12% are on treatment. The USAID- and PEPFAR-funded Human Resources for Health in 2030 (HRH2030) Program undertook policy analysis and assessed the available health workforce and service delivery at select sites in Jakarta to identify and anticipate Test and Treat implementation gaps. A mixed methods concurrent triangulation design was used, including policy analysis, key informant interviews, and site-level tools to capture workforce availability, skills, quality, and performance. Results indicate priorities to: define and implement HIV standards of practice for the Test and Treat policy; improve relevance and coordination of pre-service and in-service training programs; and support managers to optimize task and workforce allocation, including allocating lower-skilled workers to routine testing. Additional site-level data are needed from rural and remote sites in Indonesia, where fewer health workers are distributed. Efficiencies can help sustain HIV programs and contribute to epidemic control.Abstrak Upaya strategis dibutuhkan Indonesia untuk implementasi kebijakan Pemeriksaan dan Pengobatan (Test and Treat) HIV, seperti yang diterbitkan oleh USAID dan PEPFAR. Kebijakan ini mendorong peningkatan cakupan pengobatan yangd diyakini penting secara ekonomi. Diperkirakan pada tahun 2018 terdapat 631,635 ODHA di Indonesia dan hanya 12% yang menjalani pengobatan. Program HRH2030 yang didanai oleh USAID dan PEPFAR melakukan analisis kebijakan dan penilaian ketersediaan tenaga kesehatan dan pelayanan HIV di beberapa unit layanan di Jakarta, untuk mengidentifikasi dan mengantisipasi kesenjangan implementasi kebijakan. Kajian menggunakan metode campuran dengan melakukan analisis kebijakan, wawancara informan kunci, dan serangkaian alat asesmen tingkat unit layanan untuk menangkap informasi terkait ketersediaan, keterampilan, kualitas, dan kinerja tenaga kesehatan. Hasil kajian ini memprioritaskan adanya penetapan dan penerapan standar praktik layanan HIV yang sesuai dengan kebijakan Pemeriksaan dan Pengobatan. Peningkatan koordinasi program pendidikan pra-layanan dan pelatihan dalam jabatan dan dukungan kepada manajer unit layanan untuk mengoptimalkan alokasi tugas dan tenaga kesehatan menjadi hal yang penting. Pendekatan ini diharapkan dapat meningkatkan efisiensi layanan dan keberlanjutan program HIV. Data dan informasi tingkat unit layanan dibutuhkan, khususnya dari wilayah pedesaan dan terpencil.

The hallmark article by Thaddeus and Maine (1994) presented a framework to reducing maternal mortality by addressing the delays: (1) deciding to seek care; (2) reaching care; and (3) receiving adequate care. This project developed a phone-based system used by traditional birth attendants to address the three delays in two districts in rural Zanzibar. Mobile phones provided: clinical algorithms to screen pregnant mothers for danger signs; phone numbers and mobile banking to arrange and pay for transportation; and contacts for health facility staff to alert them of referrals. 938 mothers participated in the “mHealth for Safer Deliveries” project. The intervention achieved a 71.0% facility delivery rate in the project zone, compared to the regional average of 32.0% (NBS and ICF Macro, 2011). This project demonstrated the effectiveness of mobile technology in addressing childbirth's three delays and its potential to impact maternal mortality in low-income countries.