Limits and opportunities to community health worker empowerment: A multi-country comparative study

Abstract

While increasingly the onus is on CHWs and CHW programs to solve the problem of health access, attention should be given to the experiences of CHWs themselves. CHW programs need to move beyond an instrumentalist approach to CHWs, and take a developmental and empowerment perspective when engaging with CHWs. CHW programs should systematically identify disempowering organisational arrangements and take steps to remedy these. Doing so will not only improve CHW performance, it will pave the way for CHWs to meet their potential as agents of social change, beyond perhaps their role as health promoters.

Empowerment of Health Volunteer through the Training using Module of Health Volunteer Guidance: Children under Five Years Health Problem during Disaster

“…The "why" motivates the trainer contributing to the learning experience to embrace the learning and draw on the necessary resources. The "who" require knowing the prospective trainees and describing a target as in [7] Training can improve the knowledge and ability of health volunteer in identifying infant health problems in times of disaster as in [2]. Trained using lectures, simulations, and demonstrations can increase the health volunteer capability as in [5].…”

Identifying Grassroots Opportunities and Barriers to mHealth Design for HIV/AIDS Using a Communicative Ecologies Framework

“…CHWs are generally understood to be a member of the community in which they work (Kane et al, 2016) and by inference, it is understood that the CHW usually supports a geographically bounded population. Therefore, the modus operandi of all local health service providers-including CHWs-is challenged by a large transitory population which does not remain in one geographic location long enough to be able to connect with local health services.…”

One Size Does Not Fit All: The Importance of Contextually Sensitive mHealth Strategies for Frontline Female Health Workers

“…A 2014 review of the role and performance of CHWs ascertains that more than five million frontline workers are active globally (Perry et al, 2014). CHWs can occupy the lowest rung of health hierarchy, work on the frontline, come from the modest social, economic, educational backgrounds, are often women, and are likely to serve their own communities (Bhatia, 2014;Haines et al, 2007;Kane et al, 2016). These frontline CHWs have been instrumental in providing a range of health services ranging from provision of antenatal and postnatal care, safe childbirth, counseling on breastfeeding, immunizations, management of uncomplicated childhood illnesses, general health education and promotion on malaria, tuberculosis, HIV/AIDs, and facilitating access to healthcare services (Kok et al, 2015;Lewis, 2010;Perry et al, 2014;Perry & Zulliger, 2012).…”

“…Many recent reviews of the performance of frontline healthcare workers recognize that despite limitations in the quality of available evidence, these workers have an important role in increasing coverage of essential interventions for child survival and other health priorities (Kane et al, 2016;Kok et al, 2015;Lewis, 2010;Perry et al, 2014). One distinguishing characteristic of this frontline workforce is its ability to provide healthcare services while being sensitive to the culture and context of host communities (Bhatia, 2014;Maes et al, 2015;Mbuagbaw et al, 2015;Mumtaz et al, 2013).…”