The role of ‘hidden’ community volunteers in community-based health service delivery platforms: examples from sub-Saharan Africa
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-tie...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Taylor & Francis Group
2015-03-01
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| Series: | Global Health Action |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.globalhealthaction.net/index.php/gha/article/view/27214/pdf_41 |
| _version_ | 1818516632769658880 |
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| author | Natalie Leon David Sanders Wim Van Damme Donela Besada Emmanuelle Daviaud Nicholas P. Oliphant Rocio Berzal John Mason Tanya Doherty |
| author_facet | Natalie Leon David Sanders Wim Van Damme Donela Besada Emmanuelle Daviaud Nicholas P. Oliphant Rocio Berzal John Mason Tanya Doherty |
| author_sort | Natalie Leon |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | 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. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-11T00:44:54Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-4796bfb38d8440f89cb3625bed31a6d1 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1654-9880 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-11T00:44:54Z |
| publishDate | 2015-03-01 |
| publisher | Taylor & Francis Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Global Health Action |
| spelling | doaj.art-4796bfb38d8440f89cb3625bed31a6d12022-12-22T01:26:49ZengTaylor & Francis GroupGlobal Health Action1654-98802015-03-01801710.3402/gha.v8.2721427214The role of ‘hidden’ community volunteers in community-based health service delivery platforms: examples from sub-Saharan AfricaNatalie Leon0David Sanders1Wim Van Damme2Donela Besada3Emmanuelle Daviaud4Nicholas P. Oliphant5Rocio Berzal6John Mason7Tanya Doherty8 Health Systems Research Unit, South African Medical Research Council, Cape Town, South Africa School of Public Health, University of the Western Cape, Cape Town, South Africa School of Public Health, University of the Western Cape, Cape Town, South Africa Health Systems Research Unit, South African Medical Research Council, Cape Town, South Africa Health Systems Research Unit, South African Medical Research Council, Cape Town, South Africa UNICEF, New York, NY, USA UNICEF, Niger Country Office, Niamey, Niger Global Community Health and Behaviour Sciences, Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, USA Health Systems Research Unit, South African Medical Research Council, Cape Town, South AfricaCommunity-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.http://www.globalhealthaction.net/index.php/gha/article/view/27214/pdf_41community-based carecommunity volunteerssub-Saharan Africadeveloping countrieschild mortalitypopulation healthglobal healthhealth systems |
| spellingShingle | Natalie Leon David Sanders Wim Van Damme Donela Besada Emmanuelle Daviaud Nicholas P. Oliphant Rocio Berzal John Mason Tanya Doherty The role of ‘hidden’ community volunteers in community-based health service delivery platforms: examples from sub-Saharan Africa Global Health Action community-based care community volunteers sub-Saharan Africa developing countries child mortality population health global health health systems |
| title | The role of ‘hidden’ community volunteers in community-based health service delivery platforms: examples from sub-Saharan Africa |
| title_full | The role of ‘hidden’ community volunteers in community-based health service delivery platforms: examples from sub-Saharan Africa |
| title_fullStr | The role of ‘hidden’ community volunteers in community-based health service delivery platforms: examples from sub-Saharan Africa |
| title_full_unstemmed | The role of ‘hidden’ community volunteers in community-based health service delivery platforms: examples from sub-Saharan Africa |
| title_short | The role of ‘hidden’ community volunteers in community-based health service delivery platforms: examples from sub-Saharan Africa |
| title_sort | role of hidden community volunteers in community based health service delivery platforms examples from sub saharan africa |
| topic | community-based care community volunteers sub-Saharan Africa developing countries child mortality population health global health health systems |
| url | http://www.globalhealthaction.net/index.php/gha/article/view/27214/pdf_41 |
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