A community-based approach.
These guidelines focus on manmade rather than natural disasters, but our experiences in India, El Salvador and Pakistan (earthquake interventions), and following the 2004 tsunami, cyclone Nargis in 2008 and the Haiti ear
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thquake in 2010, showed that the principles described also work well in contexts of natural disasters.
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This article describes experiences in implementing a community mental health and development project in a rural district in southern India, includi
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ng the position of persons with mental illness when the project was initiated, the challenges faced and the strategies that were developed to overcome these challenges. The authors conclude that when services are locally available, persons with mental illness can be treated and rehabilitated within their own community. They can live with dignity and their rights are respected. There is a great need for inclusion of persons with mental illness in the existing developmental activities and in disabled persons’ organisations.
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In this era, grand challenges lies in biodiversity loss, climate change, and global noncommunicable diseases signify that planet and humanity are in crisis. Scholarly evidence from human and animal kingdom suggest that there is an optimism in planetary hea
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lth which can provide a unique and novel concept where efforts toward survival and remediation can be made. With accurate navigation, the current challenges can be mitigated leading to a new reality, one in which the core value is the well‐being of all. This paper discusses the drivers of planetary health and the role of community health workers (CHWs) in making health‐care system more resilient that can produce multiple benefits to community and overall planetary health. A web‐based international database such as Google, Google Scholar, SCOPUS/MEDLINE/PubMed, and JSTOR was searched relevant to a planetary health framework. The study findings suggest that CHWs can offer health care interventions through environmental health cobenefits across the spectrum of health effects of climate change cause and effects. These actions have been divided into four major categories (i. health care promotion and prevention, ii. health care strengthening, iii. advocacy, and iv. education and research) that CHWs perform through a variety of roles and functions they are engaged in protecting planetary health. CHWs contribute toward achieving sustainable development goals such as planetary health and focus on environment sustainability and well‐being of entire mankind.
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Training Manual for Community Health Workers
This book is a practical manual of mental health care for community health
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workers, primary care nurses, social workers and primary care doctors, particularly in developing countries.Helpful features include: over 50 illustrations and case studies, jargon-free explanations and descriptions, flow-charts on common clinical problems, and a practical guide to the use of psychiatric medicines and simple psychological treatments.
Chapters 1, 9 and 10 can be found on the e-TALC CD-ROM number 2 (April 2003). See www.talcuk.org for details Links to Chapters 2 and 3 above. Printed copies of this book can also be obtained from the Royal College of Psychiatrists www.rcpsych.ac.uk/wnitp
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Guide for community-based management and care of people with dementia
Version 1.0
Mental Health and Substance Abuse
Division of NCD and
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Health through the Life-Course
World Health Organization Regional Office for the Western Pacific
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The guide is especially appropriate for settings where the provision of medical, diagnostic and support services is sparse or lacking. It covers adult and child mental health problems, as well as ch
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ildhood developmental disorders. It includes information and guidance on dealing with mental health crises and emergencies and identifying mental health and developmental problems, together with simple intervention strategies, including suggestions for parents and family members to use themselves. It outlines strategies for Community Health Workers to employ in promoting mental health and in raising their community’s awareness of mental health problems
Accessed July 4, 2019
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PLoS Med 10(1): e1001366. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001366
Published: January 8, 2013
2-Day Orientation training Orientation Training, 1 Febr. 2021
Community Health Workers (CHWs) are an essential part of the Partnership to Accelera
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te COVID-19 Testing (PACT) Initiative • Africa CDC set up PACT to drive forward the Africa Union Joint Continental Strategy for COVID-19
Available in English, French and Arabic
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COVID-19 disproportionately affects the poor and vulnerable. Community health workers are poised to play a pivotal role in fighting the pandemic, e
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specially in countries with less resilient health systems. Drawing from practitioner expertise across four WHO regions, this article outlines the targeted actions needed at different stages of the pandemic to achieve the following goals: (1) PROTECT healthcare workers, (2) INTERRUPT the virus, (3) MAINTAIN existing healthcare services while surging their capacity, and (4) SHIELD the most vulnerable from socioeconomic shocks. While decisive action must be taken now to blunt the impact of the pandemic in countries likely to be hit the hardest, many of the investments in the supply chain, compensation, dedicated supervision, continuous training and performance management necessary for rapid community response in a pandemic are the same as those required to achieve universal healthcare and prevent the next epidemic.
BMJ Global Health2020;5:e002550. doi:10.1136/bmjgh-2020-002550
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Introduction Community health workers (CHWs) are increasingly being tasked to prevent and manage cardiovascular disease (CVD) and its risk factors
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in underserved populations in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs); however, little is known about the required training necessary for them to accomplish their role. This review aimed to evaluate the training of CHWs for the prevention and management of CVD and its risk factors in LMICs.
Methods A search strategy was developed in line with Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines, and five electronic databases (Medline, Global Health, ERIC, EMBASE and CINAHL) were searched to identify peer-reviewed studies published until December 2016 on the training of CHWs for prevention or control of CVD and its risk factors in LMICs. Study characteristics were extracted using a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet and quality assessed using Effective Public Health Practice Project’s Quality Assessment Tool. The search, data extraction and quality assessment were performed independently by two researchers.
Results The search generated 928 articles of which 8 were included in the review. One study was a randomised controlled trial, while the remaining were before–after intervention studies. The training methods included classroom lectures, interactive lessons, e-learning and online support and group discussions or a mix of two or more. All the studies showed improved knowledge level post-training, and two studies demonstrated knowledge retention 6 months after the intervention.
Conclusion The results of the eight included studies suggest that CHWs can be trained effectively for CVD prevention and management. However, the effectiveness of CHW trainings would likely vary depending on context given the differences between studies (eg, CHW demographics, settings and training programmes) and the weak quality of six of the eight studies. Well-conducted mixed-methods studies are needed to provide reliable evidence about the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of training programmes for CHWs.
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This 88 page book is designed to help primary care workers understand mental health problems and how they can be treated.
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Mental health problems from childhood to old age are examined. The book focuses primarily on the Afghan culture but is also relevant to a wider community
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The World Health Organization (WHO) defines mental health as ‘a state of well-being in which the individual realizes his or her own abilities, ca
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n cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to his or her community’. Mental illness refers to all of the diagnosable mental disorders, which are characterised by abnormalities in thinking, feelings or behaviours. Mental illness is closely related to vulnerability, both in its causes and in its effects. Globally, 14 per cent of the global burden of disease is attributed to mental illness – with 75 per cent of those affected being found in low-income countries – which includes a broad spectrum of diagnoses, from common mental illnesses such as anxiety and
substance abuse, to severe illnesses like psychosis.
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Rev Panam Salud Publica. 2014;35(3):179–85
Low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) experience a high disease burden for epilepsy, a chronic neurological condition.The authors evaluate the cost-effectiveness of community health
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workers (CHWs) to improve adherence to medication for epilepsy in South Africa. They found that utilizing CHWs to improve medication adherence was cost-effective.
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Community-based interventions are vital for facilitating poststroke recovery, increasing community participation, and raising awareness about stroke survivors. To optimize recovery and
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community reintegration, there is a need to understand research findings on community-based interventions that focus on stroke survivors and their caregivers. Although nurses and community health workers (CHWs) are commonly involved in community-based interventions, less is known about their roles relative to other poststroke rehabilitation professionals (physical therapists, occupational therapists, and speech-language pathologists). Thus, the purpose of this review is to explore research focused on improving community-based stroke recovery for adult stroke survivors, caregivers, or both when delivered by nurses or CHWs.
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Integration of mental health (MH) and HIV programs has the potential to significantly improve health outcomes for people living with HIV (PLHIV). T
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his training package, which is comprised of a training-of-trainers manual, an accompanying presentation, and a standard operating procedure, was developed to support a pilot project for MH and HIV integration at the community level such that
health facilities, community-based organizations (CBOs), and traditional medical practitioners (TMPs) can collaborate to support MH screening and service provision for PLHIV in Zimbabwe
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