| Title |
National Community Health Worker Programs: How Can They Be Strengthened?
|
|---|---|
| Published in |
Journal of Public Health Policy, December 1989
|
| DOI | 10.2307/3342522 |
| Pubmed ID | |
| Authors |
Lucy Gilson, Gill Walt, Kris Heggenhougen, Lucas Owuor-Omondi, Myrtle Perera, David Ross, Ligia Salazar |
| Abstract |
This article is based on a collaborative research study of policy and practice in national community health worker (CHW) programs in developing countries. The study involved a review of the relevant literature, case studies in Botswana, Colombia and Sri Lanka, and an international workshop where the future of such programs was discussed. The findings of this research are discussed under four headings: unrealistic expectations, poor initial planning, problems of sustainability, and the difficulties of maintaining quality. It is clear that existing national community health worker programs have suffered from conceptual and implementation problems. However, given the interest and political will, governments can address these problems by adopting more flexible approaches within their CHW programs, by planning for them within the context of all health sector activities rather than as a separate activity, and by immediately addressing weaknesses in task allocation, training and supervision. CHWs represent an important health resource, whose potential in extending coverage and providing a reasonable level of care to otherwise underserved populations must be fully tapped. |
Mendeley readers
The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 141 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| South Africa | 2 | 1% |
| Canada | 2 | 1% |
| Niger | 1 | <1% |
| Japan | 1 | <1% |
| United States | 1 | <1% |
| Unknown | 134 | 95% |
Demographic breakdown
| Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Student > Master | 27 | 19% |
| Student > Ph. D. Student | 17 | 12% |
| Researcher | 16 | 11% |
| Student > Doctoral Student | 14 | 10% |
| Other | 8 | 6% |
| Other | 33 | 23% |
| Unknown | 26 | 18% |
| Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Medicine and Dentistry | 36 | 26% |
| Social Sciences | 31 | 22% |
| Nursing and Health Professions | 15 | 11% |
| Business, Management and Accounting | 5 | 4% |
| Economics, Econometrics and Finance | 4 | 3% |
| Other | 18 | 13% |
| Unknown | 32 | 23% |
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 9. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 01 October 2018.
All research outputs
#3,799,858
of 25,377,790 outputs
Outputs from Journal of Public Health Policy
#175
of 814 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#2,333
of 58,404 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Journal of Public Health Policy
#2
of 5 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,377,790 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done well and is in the 83rd percentile: it's in the top 25% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 814 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 13.7. This one has done well, scoring higher than 76% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 58,404 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 93% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 5 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has scored higher than 3 of them.