The Community Health Academy works to train and grow the community health workforce. While we prioritize the health
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workers in the five countries where Last Mile Health works, we also share many of our products and services globally to support the health workforce.
The Academy’s scope is two-fold:
Partner with governments to design, digitize, and deliver training for community and frontline health workers.
Partner with governments to train health leaders to effectively manage community health systems.
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This report describes the “Building health workers capacity on air pollution and health” pilot workshop held in Ghana in 2022 which aimed at te
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sting the training material of the first WHO Air Pollution and Health Training toolkit (APHT) targeting health professionals. APHT aims at strengthening the knowledge of health workers on air pollution and health and to enable them to effectively communicate with patients and communities on how to reduce their risk, to advocate for population level interventions as well as to train other peers and colleagues using a train-the-trainer approach. This workshop report serves as a tool and example of a training that can be replicated and adapted to other contexts and settings based on country and regional priorities and needs.
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The guideline uses state-of-the-art evidence to identify effective policy options to strengthen community health worker (CHW) programme performance through their proper integration in
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health systems and communities.
Successful delivery of services through CHWs requires evidence-based models for education, deployment and management of these health workers. The guideline is intended as a tool for national policy makers and planners and their international partners to use in the design, implementation, performance and evaluation of effective community health worker programmes. It contains pragmatic recommendations on selection, training and certification; management and supervision: and integration into health systems and community engagement.
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In the course of implementing a recently funded network of hubs for building capacities in mental health service development,
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training, and research (RedeAmericas), the peer support workers are being introduced into the mental health workforce in three Latin American countries for the very first time. They will be part of a team, along with community mental health workers, that provides a modified Critical Time Intervention to individuals with severe psychiatric disorders living in the community. This article reviewed the background of this increasingly widespread development, and discussed its merits, as well as potential obstacles within local contexts.
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The Essential WASH Actions toolkit expands the connection between WASH and nutrition. This resource offers a comprehensive set of essential WASH actions, references training materials for
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health workers, nutrition managers and community workers to build capacity, and outlines accompanying behaviors needed to support the Essential Nutrition Actions.
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Primary health care offers a cost–effective route to achieving universal health coverage (UHC). However, primary health-care syst
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ems are weak in many low- and middle-income countries and often fail to provide comprehensive, people-centred, integrated care. We analysed the primary health-care systems in 20 low- and middle-income countries using a semi-grounded approach. Options for strengthening primary health-care systems were identified by thematic content analysis. We found that: (i)despite the growing burden of noncommunicable disease, many low- and middle-income countries lacked funds for preventive services; (ii)community health workers were often under-resourced, poorly supported and lacked training; (iii)out-of-pocket expenditure exceeded 40% of total health expenditure in half the countries studied, which affected equity; and (iv)health insurance schemes were hampered by the fragmentation of public and private systems, underfunding, corruption and poor engagement of informal workers. In 14 countries, the private sector was largely unregulated. Moreover, community engagement in primary health care was weak in countries where services were largely privatized. In some countries, decentralization led to the fragmentation of primary health care. Performance improved when financial incentives were linked to regulation and quality improvement, and community involvement was strong. Policy-making should be supported by adequate resources for primary health-care implementation and government spending on primary health care should be increased by at least 1% of gross domestic product. Devising equity-enhancing financing schemes and improving the accountability of primary health-care management is also needed. Support from primary health-care systems is critical for progress towards UHC in the decade to 2030.
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Cardiovascular diseases, principally ischemic heart disease (IHD), are the most important cause of death and disability in the majority of low- and lower-middle-income countries (LLMICs). In these c
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ountries, IHD mortality rates are significantly greater in individuals of a low socioeconomic status (SES).
Three important focus areas for decreasing IHD mortality among those of low SES in LLMICs are (1) acute coronary care; (2) cardiac rehabilitation and secondary prevention; and (3) primary prevention. Greater mortality in low SES patients with acute coronary syndrome is due to lack of awareness of symptoms in patients and primary care physicians, delay in reaching healthcare facilities, non-availability of thrombolysis and coronary revascularization, and the non-affordability of expensive medicines (statins, dual anti-platelets, renin-angiotensin system blockers). Facilities for rapid diagnosis and accessible and affordable long-term care at secondary and tertiary care hospitals for IHD care are needed. A strong focus on the social determinants of health (low education, poverty, working and living conditions), greater healthcare financing, and efficient primary care is required. The quality of primary prevention needs to be improved with initiatives to eliminate tobacco and trans-fats and to reduce the consumption of alcohol, refined carbohydrates, and salt along with the promotion of healthy foods and physical activity. Efficient primary care with a focus on management of blood pressure, lipids and diabetes is needed. Task sharing with community health workers, electronic decision support systems, and use of fixed-dose combinations of blood pressure-lowering drugs and statins can substantially reduce risk factors and potentially lead to large reductions in IHD. Finally, training of physicians, nurses, and health workers in IHD prevention should be strengthened.
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A Training Curriculum for Providers
Shortages of healthcare workers is detrimental to the health of communities, especially children
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. This paper describes the process of capacity building Community Health Volunteers (CHVs) to deliver integrated preventive and curative package of care of services to manage common childhood illness in hard-to-reach communities in Bondo Subcounty, Kenya
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A book of methods, aids, and ideas for instructors at the village level
An indispensable resource for health educators, this book provides hundreds of
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methods, aids, and learning strategies to make health education engaging and effective, encouraging community involvement through participatory education.
You can download chapter by chapter free of charge
The previous version (2005) is freely available here
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In many contexts, the safe delivery of health care services is challenged by the lack of respect for he
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alth care personnel who face insults, threats and violence. Consequences include the disruption of health services, high staff turnover in health facilities, high levels of stress impacting the quality of the services and health care personnel being forced to flee. This manual intends to complement the existing training materials and is aimed at supporting staff in health care facilities to cope with stress and violent experiences, including how they can protect themselves by de-escalating potentially violent situations.
No publication year indicated
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CHW Central is an online community of practice that brings together program managers, experts, practitioners, researchers, and supporters of CHW programs. The website is a virtual meeting place to s
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hare resources and experiences and to discuss and develop questions and ideas on CHW programs and policy. This site is available to all, however to participate actively in the conversations you need to register for a free membership.
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Implementation of the CHWs guidelines using Amref Health Africa lessons learnt
focuses on providing CHWs with predictable financial and non financial incentives,
frequent support supervision, cont
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inuous training and embedding them in health
systems with clear roles.
Empowering CHWs represents a cost effective approach with a critical change to-
wards achieving universal health coverage.
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The Essential Nutrition Actions and Essential Hygiene Actions Training Guide: Community Workers strengthens the capacity of community
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workers to deliver and promote the essential nutrition and hygiene actions. It introduces technical content within hands-on sessions to practice counseling and negotiation, using role plays and field practice. It guides community workers in understanding why and how to integrate messages on nutrition and hygiene into their different program platforms using a life cycle approach to deliver the right message to right person at the right time.
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Integrated Management of Adolescent and Adult Illness (IMAI)
July 2008
From this page you can access the modules that form the theoretical training element of the HEAT programme. The thirteen modules cover a wide range of
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subjects including child and maternal health, hygiene, immunisation, and nutrition. These modules have been created as Open Educational Resources and they can be accessed by anyone in the world, at any time, free of charge. The three maternal health modules: Antenatal Care; Labour and Delivery Care; and Postnatal Care, are also available in Swahili.
Some of them are designed for the upgrade training for the Health Extension Worker programme in Ethiopia - it's the official MOH curriculum, and was designed as a year (or more) long distance learning programme.
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According to the World Health Organization (WHO), sub-Saharan Africa has only 3% of the world’s health
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workers to cater for 11% of the world population, bearing over 25% of the global disease burden (WHO, 2014). With a steady increase in reported cases on the African Continent, the current COVID-19 pandemic threatens to overwhelm our already taxed health infrastructure. It is, therefore, imperative to take serious and urgent measures towards disease management and monitoring especially as the need for self-quarantine and contact surveillance rises.
In view of the infrastructural and resource gaps, technology should be considered for remote management of healthcare deliver to patients during this period. As it is abundantly clear, even countries with more advanced healthcare infrastructure and resources have struggled to treat COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 patients during this pandemic.
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This Fiji contextualized manual was initially drafted for CANDO partners as a result of the work done by the humanitarian arms of the various Christian denominations. However as the work progressed
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it became evidently clear that the training was needed for all responders, and not only Christian responders, and as such, the Christian component has been added as an Annex to this manual, whilst the entire manual is relevant and can be used to train all first responders in Fiji.
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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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Community health workers (CHWs) serve as a very important direct link between patients, communities and health services. As trusted on-the-ground s
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upport to community members, they therefore expand access to essential healthcare information as well as available treatment and prevention programmes.
This course book provides appropriate, cost-effective, and sustainable targeted learning for the large numbers of emerging community health workers in South Africa.
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