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Community-orientated primary health care: Exploring the interface between community health worker programmes, the health system and communities in South Africa
Due to insufficient number of health workers and the evidence of the benefits of community health workers (CHWs), CHWs are being deployed to provide health care services to under-served communities. In this article, we explore to what extent the South African CHW programmes introduced between 2009 a...
Autores principales: | , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Public Library of Science
2023
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10021906/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36962793 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgph.0000881 |
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author | Malatji, Hlologelo Griffiths, Frances Goudge, Jane |
author_facet | Malatji, Hlologelo Griffiths, Frances Goudge, Jane |
author_sort | Malatji, Hlologelo |
collection | PubMed |
description | Due to insufficient number of health workers and the evidence of the benefits of community health workers (CHWs), CHWs are being deployed to provide health care services to under-served communities. In this article, we explore to what extent the South African CHW programmes introduced between 2009 and 2011 are attuned to community needs, integrated into the healthcare system and community structures, and also implemented in accordance with community-orientated primary health care principles. Using a case study approach, we studied CHW teams in seven primary healthcare facilities located in semi-urban and rural areas of Gauteng and Mpumalanga provinces, South Africa. We collected data using in-depth interviews involving facility managers, CHW supervisors, community representatives and key informants, and focus groups and observations of CHWs. The implementation of community-orientated health interventions remains complex. In the different sites, there were efforts to integrate the views of stakeholders (e.g., political leaders) into the implementation of the CHW programmes. However, many residents were more concerned about access to housing than health services. The CHWs services’ were found to be generally comprehensive, however inefficient training, supervision and mentorship limited their effectiveness. The multidisciplinary approach to care, as introduced by some sites, helped enhance the knowledge and skills of some of the CHWs on complex health topics. The roll out of community orientated primary health care services is crucial in a resource-constrained setting like South Africa. However, significant socio-economic issues disrupt community involvement and the effective provision of services. Governments need to provide sufficient funds for training, supervision, supplies and remuneration to help overcome these barriers. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-10021906 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2023 |
publisher | Public Library of Science |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-100219062023-03-17 Community-orientated primary health care: Exploring the interface between community health worker programmes, the health system and communities in South Africa Malatji, Hlologelo Griffiths, Frances Goudge, Jane PLOS Glob Public Health Research Article Due to insufficient number of health workers and the evidence of the benefits of community health workers (CHWs), CHWs are being deployed to provide health care services to under-served communities. In this article, we explore to what extent the South African CHW programmes introduced between 2009 and 2011 are attuned to community needs, integrated into the healthcare system and community structures, and also implemented in accordance with community-orientated primary health care principles. Using a case study approach, we studied CHW teams in seven primary healthcare facilities located in semi-urban and rural areas of Gauteng and Mpumalanga provinces, South Africa. We collected data using in-depth interviews involving facility managers, CHW supervisors, community representatives and key informants, and focus groups and observations of CHWs. The implementation of community-orientated health interventions remains complex. In the different sites, there were efforts to integrate the views of stakeholders (e.g., political leaders) into the implementation of the CHW programmes. However, many residents were more concerned about access to housing than health services. The CHWs services’ were found to be generally comprehensive, however inefficient training, supervision and mentorship limited their effectiveness. The multidisciplinary approach to care, as introduced by some sites, helped enhance the knowledge and skills of some of the CHWs on complex health topics. The roll out of community orientated primary health care services is crucial in a resource-constrained setting like South Africa. However, significant socio-economic issues disrupt community involvement and the effective provision of services. Governments need to provide sufficient funds for training, supervision, supplies and remuneration to help overcome these barriers. Public Library of Science 2023-02-14 /pmc/articles/PMC10021906/ /pubmed/36962793 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgph.0000881 Text en © 2023 Malatji et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. |
spellingShingle | Research Article Malatji, Hlologelo Griffiths, Frances Goudge, Jane Community-orientated primary health care: Exploring the interface between community health worker programmes, the health system and communities in South Africa |
title | Community-orientated primary health care: Exploring the interface between community health worker programmes, the health system and communities in South Africa |
title_full | Community-orientated primary health care: Exploring the interface between community health worker programmes, the health system and communities in South Africa |
title_fullStr | Community-orientated primary health care: Exploring the interface between community health worker programmes, the health system and communities in South Africa |
title_full_unstemmed | Community-orientated primary health care: Exploring the interface between community health worker programmes, the health system and communities in South Africa |
title_short | Community-orientated primary health care: Exploring the interface between community health worker programmes, the health system and communities in South Africa |
title_sort | community-orientated primary health care: exploring the interface between community health worker programmes, the health system and communities in south africa |
topic | Research Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10021906/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36962793 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgph.0000881 |
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