Role of Community Health Workers Sample Clauses

Role of Community Health Workers. CHWs were included in the Liberian primary health care system in the 1980s but were not supported during the war and became inactive. General Community Health Volunteers (gCHVs) are now included as part of the revitalization of the Liberian health system. Several HHPs and CHC members involved in CSP activities in GCMC were identified as potential gCHVs for this new cadre of volunteer and will be trained by the RBHS project. As reading is an MoHSW requirement for gCHVs, only HHPs who could read have been absorbed into the program, The role of the gCHV is similar to that of the CSP Community Health Promoter and the HHPs will work with gCHVs as community health supporters. Utilizing the Care Group approach ensured good household coverage as depicted in the diagram below. HHPs’ ability to reach every household as well as the community for targeted and effective social and behavior change messages are largely the reason health practices changed. Their ability to have input into the health system through the CHCs also provided an important “feedback loop” to health workers about their work. 4 Supervisors 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 20 Community Health Promoters 58 Care Groups with 6 to 8- HHPs each for a total of 520 HHPs in 132 132 communities 6 7 8 9 10 Each HHP visits 10 to 15 households HHPs worked solely on a voluntary basis and received supportive supervision from CSP field staff. When interviewed, HHPs reported that the training they received, the positive changes in community health behaviors, and the recognition they received for their contributions to their communities were the factors that motivated them to continue their work. They reported that they felt that their workload as volunteers was manageable. Organizing and supporting volunteers through Care Groups has helped to address concerns about after-training support and supervision that arose in earlier CSPs. In the past, high household/volunteer ratios and lack of supervision led to high volunteer drop-out rates and inconsistent volunteer performance quality. As noted in the data quality and results sections, further increases in important MCH indicators such as timely treatment with medications for malaria and pneumonia as well as skilled delivery and essential newborn services are dependent on increased health systems strengthening and access to health services. HHPs and CHCs can and do mobilize communities to access essential MCH services, such as immunization camp...