Involving community health workers in disease-specific interventions: perspectives from The Gambia on the impact of this approach
# Background The Community Health Worker (CHW) programme is recognised as key for providing healthcare to communities, particularly in remote locations. CHWs are usually volunteers, nominated by their communities and trained to provide basic care and prevention for common illnesses. However, differ...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Inishmore Laser Scientific Publishing Ltd
2019-12-01
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| Series: | Journal of Global Health Reports |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.29392/joghr.3.e2019084 |
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| author | Ashley Preston Joseph Okebe Julie Balen Joan M Ribera Yoriko Masunaga Amadou Bah Edgard Dabira Umberto D’Alessandro |
| author_facet | Ashley Preston Joseph Okebe Julie Balen Joan M Ribera Yoriko Masunaga Amadou Bah Edgard Dabira Umberto D’Alessandro |
| author_sort | Ashley Preston |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | # Background
The Community Health Worker (CHW) programme is recognised as key for providing healthcare to communities, particularly in remote locations. CHWs are usually volunteers, nominated by their communities and trained to provide basic care and prevention for common illnesses. However, differences in disease-specific programmes aimed at meeting national agenda and perceived health needs of the community raises questions about the best approach to maximise the potential of this workforce.
# Methods
This was an explorative qualitative study, ancillary to a larger trial on a malaria control intervention. In July 2017, 40 semi-structured interviews were conducted with 17 village health workers (VHWs), four community health nurses who supervise VHWs, and 19 key informants from the community. Analysis was concurrent to data collection and carried out using a deductive process for thematic analysis, with the aid of NVivo 11 Qualitative Analysis Software.
# Results
There were three key aspects of the VHW role identified in this setting; (1) to give health advice; (2) to treat and refer patients; and (3) to support environmental cleaning. The VHWs' involvement in the clinical trial impacted their role in several ways. Overall, this was perceived very positively by the community and the VHWs since it improved access to medication and training on how to treat malaria. However, involvement was also perceived to increase VHWs' workload, and placed more emphasis on malaria over other common illnesses, creating a shift in the balance of their role between disease prevention and treatment.
# Conclusions
VHWs are essential for the successful delivery of disease-specific activities at the community level. However, involving them in these activities has important implications for their everyday role. If carefully managed, it has the potential to improve their capacity to screen and treat specific diseases such as malaria. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-9db4594676fb4ded98c4dda0995b1827 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2399-1623 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2019-12-01 |
| publisher | Inishmore Laser Scientific Publishing Ltd |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Global Health Reports |
| spelling | doaj-art-9db4594676fb4ded98c4dda0995b18272025-08-20T03:20:39ZengInishmore Laser Scientific Publishing LtdJournal of Global Health Reports2399-16232019-12-01310.29392/joghr.3.e2019084Involving community health workers in disease-specific interventions: perspectives from The Gambia on the impact of this approachAshley PrestonJoseph OkebeJulie BalenJoan M RiberaYoriko MasunagaAmadou BahEdgard DabiraUmberto D’Alessandro# Background The Community Health Worker (CHW) programme is recognised as key for providing healthcare to communities, particularly in remote locations. CHWs are usually volunteers, nominated by their communities and trained to provide basic care and prevention for common illnesses. However, differences in disease-specific programmes aimed at meeting national agenda and perceived health needs of the community raises questions about the best approach to maximise the potential of this workforce. # Methods This was an explorative qualitative study, ancillary to a larger trial on a malaria control intervention. In July 2017, 40 semi-structured interviews were conducted with 17 village health workers (VHWs), four community health nurses who supervise VHWs, and 19 key informants from the community. Analysis was concurrent to data collection and carried out using a deductive process for thematic analysis, with the aid of NVivo 11 Qualitative Analysis Software. # Results There were three key aspects of the VHW role identified in this setting; (1) to give health advice; (2) to treat and refer patients; and (3) to support environmental cleaning. The VHWs' involvement in the clinical trial impacted their role in several ways. Overall, this was perceived very positively by the community and the VHWs since it improved access to medication and training on how to treat malaria. However, involvement was also perceived to increase VHWs' workload, and placed more emphasis on malaria over other common illnesses, creating a shift in the balance of their role between disease prevention and treatment. # Conclusions VHWs are essential for the successful delivery of disease-specific activities at the community level. However, involving them in these activities has important implications for their everyday role. If carefully managed, it has the potential to improve their capacity to screen and treat specific diseases such as malaria.https://doi.org/10.29392/joghr.3.e2019084 |
| spellingShingle | Ashley Preston Joseph Okebe Julie Balen Joan M Ribera Yoriko Masunaga Amadou Bah Edgard Dabira Umberto D’Alessandro Involving community health workers in disease-specific interventions: perspectives from The Gambia on the impact of this approach Journal of Global Health Reports |
| title | Involving community health workers in disease-specific interventions: perspectives from The Gambia on the impact of this approach |
| title_full | Involving community health workers in disease-specific interventions: perspectives from The Gambia on the impact of this approach |
| title_fullStr | Involving community health workers in disease-specific interventions: perspectives from The Gambia on the impact of this approach |
| title_full_unstemmed | Involving community health workers in disease-specific interventions: perspectives from The Gambia on the impact of this approach |
| title_short | Involving community health workers in disease-specific interventions: perspectives from The Gambia on the impact of this approach |
| title_sort | involving community health workers in disease specific interventions perspectives from the gambia on the impact of this approach |
| url | https://doi.org/10.29392/joghr.3.e2019084 |
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