The role of 'hidden' community volunteers in community-based health service delivery platforms: examples from sub-Saharan Africa

dc.contributor.authorLeon, Natalie
dc.contributor.authorSanders, David
dc.contributor.authorDamme, Wim Van
dc.contributor.authorBesada, Donela
dc.contributor.authorDaviaud, Emmanuelle
dc.contributor.authorOliphant, Nicholas P.
dc.contributor.authorBerzal, Rocio
dc.contributor.authorMason, John
dc.contributor.authorDoherty, Tanya
dc.date.accessioned2016-06-23T09:36:15Z
dc.date.available2016-06-23T09:36:15Z
dc.date.issued2015
dc.description.abstractCommunity-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.en_US
dc.description.accreditationISIen_US
dc.identifier.citationLeon, N. et al. (2015). The role of 'hidden' community volunteers in community-based health service delivery platforms: examples from sub-Saharan Africa. Global Health Action, 8: 27214en_US
dc.identifier.issn1654-9880
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10566/2331
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.privacy.showsubmitterFALSE
dc.publisherCo-Action Publishingen_US
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
dc.source.urihttp://dx.doi.org/10.3402/gha.v8.27214
dc.status.ispeerreviewedTRUE
dc.subjectCommunity-based careen_US
dc.subjectCommunity volunteersen_US
dc.subjectSub-Saharan Africaen_US
dc.subjectDeveloping countriesen_US
dc.subjectChild mortalityen_US
dc.subjectPopulation healthen_US
dc.subjectGlobal healthen_US
dc.subjectHealth systemsen_US
dc.titleThe role of 'hidden' community volunteers in community-based health service delivery platforms: examples from sub-Saharan Africaen_US
dc.typeArticleen_US

Files

Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Name:
Leon_hidden_2015.pdf
Size:
284.37 KB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description: