Community Health Worker Requirements to Accelerate Progress Towards Universal Health Coverage in Africa: An Overview of Contemporary Estimates and Implications of Full-Time Versus Part-Time Working Arrangements
Primary health care is the most effective approach to achieving universal health coverage (UHC) and ensuring health security. In this approach, community health workers play a crucial role by delivering a comprehensive array of preventive, promotive, and curative services. Their contributions are vi...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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SAGE Publishing
2025-02-01
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| Series: | Inquiry: The Journal of Health Care Organization, Provision, and Financing |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1177/00469580251323381 |
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| author | James Avoka Asamani PhD Sunny C. Okoroafor PhD Kasonde Mwinga MMed |
| author_facet | James Avoka Asamani PhD Sunny C. Okoroafor PhD Kasonde Mwinga MMed |
| author_sort | James Avoka Asamani PhD |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Primary health care is the most effective approach to achieving universal health coverage (UHC) and ensuring health security. In this approach, community health workers play a crucial role by delivering a comprehensive array of preventive, promotive, and curative services. Their contributions are vital in addressing health inequities, ensuring that all individuals have access to essential health services. By empowering these workers, we can foster a more equitable health system that meets the diverse needs of communities. African leaders are pursuing a 2 million community health worker agenda, but there are lingering questions about how to set targets of the density of community health workers needed in countries to achieve the sustainable development goals. By examining the implications of empirical estimates and incorporating nuances of working hours of community health workers, we find a wide range of density from 11.2 to 59.5 community health workers per 10 000 population depending on country context and the community health worker’s working arrangements. If community health workers are not full-time workers and work between 30% and 65% of their time, the current shortage of community health workers is between 580 000 and 954 500. However, if all the existing community health workers were to be employed full-time, the needs-based shortage of community health workers would shrink significantly to just 210 000. These should be considered ordered guesses and not planning targets for countries. Countries are encouraged to use the available health workforce planning tools to estimate its context-appropriate requirements for community health workers as part of the broader health workforce planning. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-674b29e72cbb48d9b763b336ae20779f |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 0046-9580 1945-7243 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-02-01 |
| publisher | SAGE Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Inquiry: The Journal of Health Care Organization, Provision, and Financing |
| spelling | doaj-art-674b29e72cbb48d9b763b336ae20779f2025-08-20T02:45:10ZengSAGE PublishingInquiry: The Journal of Health Care Organization, Provision, and Financing0046-95801945-72432025-02-016210.1177/00469580251323381Community Health Worker Requirements to Accelerate Progress Towards Universal Health Coverage in Africa: An Overview of Contemporary Estimates and Implications of Full-Time Versus Part-Time Working ArrangementsJames Avoka Asamani PhD0Sunny C. Okoroafor PhD1Kasonde Mwinga MMed2World Health Organization, Regional Office for Africa, Brazzaville, Republic of CongoWorld Health Organization, Regional Office for Africa, Brazzaville, Republic of CongoWorld Health Organization, Regional Office for Africa, Brazzaville, Republic of CongoPrimary health care is the most effective approach to achieving universal health coverage (UHC) and ensuring health security. In this approach, community health workers play a crucial role by delivering a comprehensive array of preventive, promotive, and curative services. Their contributions are vital in addressing health inequities, ensuring that all individuals have access to essential health services. By empowering these workers, we can foster a more equitable health system that meets the diverse needs of communities. African leaders are pursuing a 2 million community health worker agenda, but there are lingering questions about how to set targets of the density of community health workers needed in countries to achieve the sustainable development goals. By examining the implications of empirical estimates and incorporating nuances of working hours of community health workers, we find a wide range of density from 11.2 to 59.5 community health workers per 10 000 population depending on country context and the community health worker’s working arrangements. If community health workers are not full-time workers and work between 30% and 65% of their time, the current shortage of community health workers is between 580 000 and 954 500. However, if all the existing community health workers were to be employed full-time, the needs-based shortage of community health workers would shrink significantly to just 210 000. These should be considered ordered guesses and not planning targets for countries. Countries are encouraged to use the available health workforce planning tools to estimate its context-appropriate requirements for community health workers as part of the broader health workforce planning.https://doi.org/10.1177/00469580251323381 |
| spellingShingle | James Avoka Asamani PhD Sunny C. Okoroafor PhD Kasonde Mwinga MMed Community Health Worker Requirements to Accelerate Progress Towards Universal Health Coverage in Africa: An Overview of Contemporary Estimates and Implications of Full-Time Versus Part-Time Working Arrangements Inquiry: The Journal of Health Care Organization, Provision, and Financing |
| title | Community Health Worker Requirements to Accelerate Progress Towards Universal Health Coverage in Africa: An Overview of Contemporary Estimates and Implications of Full-Time Versus Part-Time Working Arrangements |
| title_full | Community Health Worker Requirements to Accelerate Progress Towards Universal Health Coverage in Africa: An Overview of Contemporary Estimates and Implications of Full-Time Versus Part-Time Working Arrangements |
| title_fullStr | Community Health Worker Requirements to Accelerate Progress Towards Universal Health Coverage in Africa: An Overview of Contemporary Estimates and Implications of Full-Time Versus Part-Time Working Arrangements |
| title_full_unstemmed | Community Health Worker Requirements to Accelerate Progress Towards Universal Health Coverage in Africa: An Overview of Contemporary Estimates and Implications of Full-Time Versus Part-Time Working Arrangements |
| title_short | Community Health Worker Requirements to Accelerate Progress Towards Universal Health Coverage in Africa: An Overview of Contemporary Estimates and Implications of Full-Time Versus Part-Time Working Arrangements |
| title_sort | community health worker requirements to accelerate progress towards universal health coverage in africa an overview of contemporary estimates and implications of full time versus part time working arrangements |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1177/00469580251323381 |
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