Dear HIFA colleagues
Do you manage a community health worker (CHW) or lay health worker programme? Are you interested in how the impacts of these programmes can best be assessed? At the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), we are developing a core outcome set (CoS) focused on community or lay health worker interventions for diabetes care. A CoS is a consensus-based list of outcomes that allows researchers to assess a consistent set of indicators when measuring the impacts of a particular programme or intervention. The CoS we are developing is intended to be global in scope - we want to include outcomes that are relevant to assessing the impacts of CHW programmes in the global South as well as in the North
We are inviting CHW programme managers from any setting to participate in a survey to share your views on the importance of a draft list of outcomes that we have compiled. Please contact me if you would be willing to participate and I will share further information with you, including the link to the survey. The deadline for completing the survey is 25 April 2025.
This work is part of a larger doctoral study at NTNU looking at how community or lay health workers can better support people living with diabetes. It builds on our earlier research on lay health workers and is also informed by a Cochrane review of the effects of lay health workers for diabetes that will be published later this year.
Many thanks
Simon
HIFA profile: Simon Lewin is a health systems researcher at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) (https://www.ntnu.edu/employees/simon.lewin), the South African Medical Research Council (www.mrc.ac.za) and the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (https://www.fhi.no/en/kn/ceir/). He has a keen interest in how research evidence can be used to inform decisions for health systems in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) and at the global level in multilateral organisations such as the WHO. As Co-Lead of Cochrane People, Health Systems and Public Health, he has played a key role in strengthening Cochrane’s work in the field of health systems and in developing Cochrane methods for qualitative evidence synthesis. Cochrane is a HIFA supporting organisation and Simon is a member of three HIFA working groups: CHWs; mHealth-Innovate (informal use of mobile phones by health workers) and Support-Systems - How can decision-making processes for health systems strengthening and universal health coverage be made more inclusive, responsive and accountable? https://www.hifa.org/support/members/simon Email: simon.lewin AT ntnu.no