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. 2012 Nov;87(5 Suppl):85-91.
doi: 10.4269/ajtmh.2012.11-0757.

Community health workers providing government community case management for child survival in sub-Saharan Africa: who are they and what are they expected to do?

Asha George, Mark Young, Rory Nefdt, Roshni Basu, Mariame Sylla, Guy Clarysse, Marika Yip Bannicq, Alexandra de Sousa, Nancy Binkin, Theresa Diaz

Community health workers providing government community case management for child survival in sub-Saharan Africa: who are they and what are they expected to do?

Asha George et al. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2012 Nov.

Abstract

We describe community health workers (CHWs) in government community case management (CCM) programs for child survival across sub-Saharan Africa. In sub-Saharan Africa, 91% of 44 United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) offices responded to a cross-sectional survey in 2010. Frequencies describe CHW profiles and activities in government CCM programs (N = 29). Although a few programs paid CHWs a salary or conversely, rewarded CHWs purely on a non-financial basis, most programs combined financial and non-financial incentives and had training for 1 week. Not all programs allowed CHWs to provide zinc, use timers, dispense antibiotics, or use rapid diagnostic tests. Many CHWs undertake health promotion, but fewer CHWs provide soap, water treatment products, indoor residual spraying, or ready-to-use therapeutic foods. For newborn care, very few promote kangaroo care, and they do not provide antibiotics or resuscitation. Even if CHWs are as varied as the health systems in which they work, more work must be done in terms of the design and implementation of the CHW programs for them to realize their potential.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
UNICEF country offices reporting forms of motivation received by CHWs working in MoH CCM programs by scale (greater than 49% of all districts in the country) for diarrhea, malaria, and/or pneumonia programs in sub-Saharan Africa in 2010 (N = 29).
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
UNICEF country offices reporting facility and CHW diagnostics and treatments in government implementation of CCM diarrhea, malaria, and/or pneumonia programs in sub-Saharan Africa in 2010 (N = 29, N = 28 for malaria).
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
UNICEF country offices reporting CHW health promotion and preventive activities in government implementation of CCM diarrhea, malaria, and/or pneumonia programs in sub-Saharan Africa in 2010 (N = 29, N = 28 for malaria).
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
UNICEF country offices reporting activities related to nutrition and newborn care undertaken by CHWs involved in government implementation of CCM diarrhea, malaria, and/or pneumonia programs in sub-Saharan Africa in 2010 (N = 29).
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