GHSP: Communities as the Cornerstone of Primary Health Care: Learning, Policy, and Practice

18 March, 2021

Dear HIFA and CHIFA,

A new supplement of Global Health: Science and Practice focuses on community-based primary health care. The table of contents is here: https://www.ghspjournal.org/content/9/Supplement_1

All the articles are open access.

Below are the citation and selected extract from the lead editorial:

CITATION: Strength in Diversity: Integrating Community in Primary Health Care to Advance Universal Health Coverage

Charlotte E. Warren, Ben Bellows, Rachel Marcus, Jordan Downey, Sarah Kennedy and Nazo Kureshy

Global Health: Science and Practice March 2021, 9(Supplement 1):S1-S5; https://doi.org/10.9745/GHSP-D-21-00125

Approximately half of the world's population do not have access to essential health services... A growing emphasis on the roles of communities recognizes community engagement, including community health workers (CHWs), as a means of realizing the full potential of PHC and the broader health system. CHW-delivered services are an integral component of responsive, accessible, equitable, and high-quality PHC.

We underscore the significance of this special issue of Global Health: Science and Practice on community health, the first of its kind in the journal. The breadth of knowledge presented in this supplement exemplifies the progress made and persisting challenges in the global movement to redefine health systems and revitalize community-based PHC in the next decade. The 15 articles included in this supplement detail implementation experiences of designing, deploying, improving, scaling, and strengthening community health initiatives in PHC.

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And here are the citation and summary of a paper from Liberia that is especially relevant to HIFA, with a comment from me:

CITATION: Measuring Knowledge of Community Health Workers at the Last Mile in Liberia: Feasibility and Results of Clinical Vignette Assessments

Jordan Downey, Anne H. McKenna, Savior Flomo Mendin, Ami Waters, Nelson Dunbar, Lekilay G. Tehmeh, Emily E. White, Mark J. Siedner, Raj Panjabi, John D. Kraemer, Avi Kenny, E. John Ly, Jennifer Bass, Kuang-Ning Huang, M. Shoaib Khan, Nathan Uchtmann, Anup Agarwal and Lisa R. Hirschhorn

Global Health: Science and Practice March 2021, 9(Supplement 1):S111-S121; https://doi.org/10.9745/GHSP-D-20-00380

'We integrated clinical vignettes into routine programmatic supervision to assess community health worker knowledge of integrated community case management in rural Liberia. Results included higher rates of correct diagnosis and lifesaving treatment for uncomplicated disease than for more severe cases, with accurate recognition of danger signs posing a challenge.'

Comment (NPW): This last observation 'accurate recognition of danger signs posing a challenge' is critical. The paper notes that 'diagnosis and lifesaving treatment rates were highest for malaria and lowest for severe pneumonia'. Failure to identify, treat and refer severe pneumonia means that pneumonia continues to be the biggest single cause of avoidable deaths in children under 5.

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Best wishes, Neil

Coordinator, HIFA Project on Community Health Workers

http://www.hifa.org/projects/community-health-workers

Let's build a future where people are no longer dying for lack of healthcare information - Join HIFA: www.hifa.org

HIFA profile: Neil Pakenham-Walsh is coordinator of the HIFA global health campaign (Healthcare Information For All - www.hifa.org ), a global community with more than 20,000 members in 180 countries, interacting on six global forums in four languages in collaboration with WHO. Twitter: @hifa_org FB: facebook.com/HIFAdotORG neil@hifa.org