Community Health Workers and the Case for Full Salary Entitlement
- sharonche794
- Nov 18, 2021
- 2 min read
The World Health Organization (WHO) defines community health workers (CHW) as people who should be members of the community where they work, selected by their communities, answerable to their communities for their activities, supported by the health system but not necessarily a part of its organization, and have less training than professional workers [1].
Most of you have heard of CHWs, but I am not sure you understand just how much CHWs have impacted various communities, especially those in low-income communities.
They have become very important assets in the health field because they act as mouthpieces for the communities they represent. They are trained to provide a wide range of basic health services such as family planning, home visits, health education, counseling, malaria control, referrals to health facilities, nutrition, maternal and child health, just to name a few.
Normally, CHWs are considered volunteers or part-timers, and nothing more. However, over the years, a lot of the CHWs have been left disgruntled about how they are being treated, overloaded with work, and not motivated enough. The topic of whether CHWs should be entitled to a full salary keeps coming up, and it is quite a controversial and complex one. Do not get me wrong, it is not as though CHWs are not motivated. They receive either monetary, material or a combination of both types of incentives.
However, unsatisfactory incentives have made it difficult to retain CHWs in their roles in various communities worldwide. Most CHWs prefer monetary incentives, but the question remains, how much is enough and satisfactory for our CHWs? How will this be funded? Furthermore, there are no guarantees that increasing the package of incentives will ensure CHWs will continue to work for years. This is a complex situation, and I am not sure if there is an easy solution to this.
Whatever the case, our governments, local, and international organizations have to continue to reflect on this. CHWs are our allies and partners. Without them, access to care in hard-to-reach communities around the world will be a challenge.
References
1. World Health Organization. (January, 2007). Community health workers: What do we know about them? The state of the evidence on programmes, activities, costs, and impact on health outcomes of using community health workers. Geneva.
2. Image Credit: https://www.devex.com/news/ghana-turns-to-community-health-workers-in-bid-for-universal-coverage-90970
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