文章基本信息

标题：The role of ‘hidden’ community volunteers in community-based health service delivery platforms: examples from sub-Saharan Africa
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作者：Natalie Leon ; David Sanders ; Wim Van Damme 等
期刊名称：Global Health Action
印刷版ISSN：1654-9716
电子版ISSN：1654-9880
出版年度：2015
卷号：8
期号：0
DOI：10.3402/gha.v8.27214
语种：English
出版社：Taylor & Francis
摘要：Community-based research on child survival in sub-Saharan Africa has focussed on the increased provision of curative health services by a formalised cadre of lay community health workers (CHWs), but we have identified a particular configuration, that deserves closer scrutiny. We identified a two-tiered CHW system, with the first tier being the lessor known or ‘hidden’ community/village level volunteers and the second tier being formal, paid CHWs, in Ethiopia, Mali, and Niger. Whilst the disease-focussed tasks of the formal CHW tier may be more amenable to classic epidemiological surveillance, we postulate that understanding the relationship between formalised CHWs and volunteer cadres, in terms of scope, location of practice and ratio to population, would be important for a comprehensive evaluation of child survival in these countries. We report on the findings from our joint qualitative and quantitative investigations, highlighting the need to recognise the ‘hidden’ contribution of volunteers. We need to better characterize the volunteers’ interaction with community-based and primary care services and to better understand ways to improve the volunteer systems with the right type of investments. This is particularly important for considering the models for scale-up of CHWs in sub-Saharan Africa.Keywords: community-based care; community volunteers; sub-Saharan Africa; developing countries; child mortality; population health; global health; health systems(Published: 12 March 2015)Citation: Glob Health Action 2015, 8: 27214 - http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/gha.v8.27214
关键词：Public Health; Global Health;Community Health:Health Systems;community-based care; community volunteers; sub-Saharan Africa; developing countries; child mortality; population health; global health; health systems