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Benefits And Limitations Of Various Types Of Community Health Workers

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Title: Benefits and limitations of various types of community health workers Introduction: Since the Alma Alta Declaration in 1978, countries have invested in several initiatives and innovations aimed at achieving the Health for All target through the use of the principles of primary health care such as equity, community empowerment and participation, health services integration and multisector approach (1). The use of Community Health Workers in primary health care is one of the significant achievement made by the countries in ensuring that all the principles of primary health care are met. There is documented evidence of improved health outcomes such as high immunization coverages, reduction in maternal and child mortality as well as …show more content…

The training duration can range from 3 weeks to 3 years, with a provision for career progression as an incentive in some countries like Nigeria and Malawi (6). World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends that the CHWs should be chosen by their communities in order to promote community participation, empowerment, trust and delivery of health services by workers who are familiar with the culture and beliefs of the local people thereby ensuring better communication and provision of culturally acceptable services (3). WHO further estimates that there are over 1.5 million CHWs globally, with different levels of implementation in different countries (2, 3). Studies have shown that CHWs are involved in several roles such as disease prevention, treating common illnesses, task shifting of some profession duties, rehabilitation programs (7) and other non-health related activities such as identification of beneficiaries for social cash transfer programs in Malawi (8), as Farmers Club Members in the Jamkhed Project in India (2) as well as sanitation and environmental activities in Iran (9). The CHWs are categorised into volunteers and salaried or paid trained lay health workers (2). Available evidence suggest that the CHWs are paid and are integrated into the formal health

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