Engaging community health workers in combating chronic diseases in Asia: strategies and approaches

Countries:

Sponsors:

  • WHO-World Health Organization

Start Date:

End Date:

  • Ongoing

Engaging community health workers in combating chronic diseases in Asia: strategies and approaches

The overall objective of this study is to examine a full range of health promotion programs that used community health workers (CHWs), and review the implementation processes of these CHWs-led programs operated in four Asian countries (i.e. China, Bangladesh, India and Vietnam) and elsewhere, considering the advantages and disadvantages of bundling non-communicable disease (NCD) care and control within these other programmatic models, in order to develop recommendations for informed policy making. To achieve this objective, this project has the following aims: 1) To review the full range of CHWs led programs (e.g., FP, EPI, TB) in the selected four countries with particular attention to the programs that addressed NCDs; 2) To review the implementation processes of the CHWs led programs and identify barriers and facilitating factors in including CHWs in the delivery of health care programs; and 3) To provide recommendations that can inform agencies and policy-makers on advantages and disadvantages of bundling NCD care and control within the existing programmatic models (or healthcare system) to help mitigate the growing burden of NCDs in select countries.

The following are the expected deliverables of the project: 1) A final report, including executive summary that summarizes the topic and key recommendations. 2) A policy brief of engaging CHWs in the delivery of NCD related programs and healthcare services that could be used by countries in the region. 3) A proposed strategy outlining the potential research projects to be carried out with collaboration with DKU and the investigative team to generate model CHWs led programs for Asian countries. 4) Additionally, generation of presentations for international conferences and publications in international journals is expected from the review, exploratory and feasibility studies.

The project will identify model CHWs-led programs and suggest strategies for integration of such programs within the existing healthcare systems to address NCD care and control.

Last updated on January 10, 2018