Health and Care Workers in Pandemic Recovery: Major Challenges and Solutions

Document Type : Letter to Editor

Authors

1 International Health Policy Program, Ministry of Public Health, Nonthaburi, Thailand

2 World Health Organization, South-East Asia Regional Office, New Delhi, India

Keywords

Main Subjects

Full Text

Community health workers (CHWs) are defined as paraprofessionals or lay individuals with an understanding of local culture and language, have received short duration standardised job-related training; their primary goal is to provide culturally appropriate health services to the community.1,2 CHWs enable the health system to tap into the social capital that exists in rural and urban communities.3.... (Read more...)

References

  1. Olaniran A, Smith H, Unkels R, Bar-Zeev S, van den Broek N. Who is a community health worker? - a systematic review of definitions. Glob Health Action. 2017;10(1):1272223. doi:1080/16549716.2017.1272223
  2. World Health Organization (WHO). WHO Guideline on Health Policy and System Support to Optimize Community Health Worker Programmes. Geneva: WHO; 2018. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/n/who275474/. Accessed April 14, 2023.
  3. Samutachak B, Ford K, Tangcharoensathien V, Satararuji K. Role of social capital in response to and recovery from the first wave of COVID-19 in Thailand: a qualitative study. BMJ Open. 2023;13(1):e061647. doi:1136/bmjopen-2022-061647
  4. Kane S, Radkar A, Gadgil M, McPake B. Community health workers as influential health system actors and not "just another pair of hands". Int J Health Policy Manag. 2021;10(8):465-474. doi:34172/ijhpm.2020.58
  5. Walshe C, Garner I, Dunleavy L, et al. Prohibit, protect, or adapt? The changing role of volunteers in palliative and hospice care services during the COVID-19 pandemic. A multinational survey (Covpall). Int J Health Policy Manag. 2021;11(10):2146-2154. doi:34172/ijhpm.2021.128
  6. Ahmed S, Chase LE, Wagnild J, et al. Community health workers and health equity in low- and middle-income countries: systematic review and recommendations for policy and practice. Int J Equity Health. 2022;21(1):49. doi:1186/s12939-021-01615-y
  7. Scott K, George AS, Ved RR. Taking stock of 10 years of published research on the ASHA programme: examining India's national community health worker programme from a health systems perspective. Health Res Policy Syst. 2019;17(1):29. doi:1186/s12961-019-0427-0
  8. Scott K, Beckham SW, Gross M, et al. What do we know about community-based health worker programs? A systematic review of existing reviews on community health workers. Hum Resour Health. 2018;16(1):39. doi:1186/s12960-018-0304-x
  9. Berini CR, Bonilha HS, Simpson AN. Impact of community health workers on access to care for rural populations in the United States: a systematic review. J Community Health. 2022;47(3):539-553. doi:1007/s10900-021-01052-6
  10. Krassanairawiwong T, Suvannit C, Pongpirul K, Tungsanga K. Roles of subdistrict health office personnel and village health volunteers in Thailand during the COVID-19 pandemic. BMJ Case Rep. 2021;14(9):e244765. doi:1136/bcr-2021-244765
  11. Kaweenuttayanon N, Pattanarattanamolee R, Sorncha N, Nakahara S. Community surveillance of COVID-19 by village health volunteers, Thailand. Bull World Health Organ. 2021;99(5):393-397. doi:2471/blt.20.274308
  12. Miao Q, Schwarz S, Schwarz G. Responding to COVID-19: Community volunteerism and coproduction in China. World Dev. 2021;137:105128. doi:1016/j.worlddev.2020.105128
  13. The World Bank. 2021 Year in Review in 11 Charts: The Inequality Pandemic. Available from: https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2021/12/20/year-2021-in-review-the-inequality-pandemic. Accessed April 12, 2023.
  14. Kurowski C, Evans DB, Tandon A, et al. From Double Shock to Double Recovery: Implications and Options for Health Financing in the Time of COVID-19. Washington, DC: World Bank; 2021. https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/entities/publication/d964eff2-d6b8-5aea-96d5-c0a628a13706.
  15. Campbell D. NHS Hiring More Doctors from Outside UK and EEA Than Inside for First Time. The Guardian; 2022. Available from: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/jun/08/nhs-hiring-more-doctors-from-outside-uk-and-eea-than-inside-for-first-time.
  16. OECD Statistics. Health Workforce Migration. https://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?DataSetCode=HEALTH_WFMI. April 14, 2023.
  17. Brennan N, Langdon N, Bryce M, et al. Drivers and barriers of international migration of doctors to and from the United Kingdom: a scoping review. Hum Resour Health. 2023;21(1):11. doi:1186/s12960-022-00789-y
  18. WHO Health Workforce Support and Safeguards List 2023. Available from: https://apps.who.int/iris/rest/bitstreams/1493584/retrieve. Accessed April 12, 2023.

Files

History

  • Receive Date: 14 April 2023
  • Revise Date: 19 April 2023
  • Accept Date: 26 April 2023
  • First Publish Date: 07 May 2023

Share

How to cite

Statistics