This paper documents 20 years of experience and emphasises that 'Emerging infectious diseases will require community engagement through local mobilizers to implement successful government prevention and response efforts'.
CITATION: The Critical Role and Evaluation of Community Mobilizers in Polio Eradication in Remote Settings in Africa and Asia
Judy Lewis, Karen LeBan, Roma Solomon, Filimona Bisrat, Samuel Usman and Ahmed Arale
Global Health: Science and Practice October 2020, 8(3):396-412; https://doi.org/10.9745/GHSP-D-20-00024
KEY FINDINGS
- Data use, community engagement, local adaptation, linkage with the health system, and a strong community platform are critical for successful community programming.
- Community-based disease surveillance using local volunteers enhanced national and district efforts.
KEY IMPLICATIONS
- Program managers should consider using the Updated Program Functionality Matrix for Optimizing Community Health Programs of the Community Health Worker Assessment and Improvement Matrix (AIM) tool to develop, implement, and assess community health worker programs.
- Policy makers should support and strengthen strong community platforms in disease eradication programs that engage communities, promote local ownership, and use community-level workers.
- Emerging infectious diseases will require community engagement through local mobilizers to implement successful government prevention and response efforts.
ABSTRACT
This article assesses the CORE Group Polio Project (CGPP) experience over a 20-year period in 5 countries. It examines how a program designed to provide social mobilization to eradicate one disease, and which did so effectively, functioned within the general framework of community health workers (CHWs). Vertical health programs often have limited impact on broader community health. CGPP has a 20-year history of social mobilization and effective program interventions. This history provided an opportunity to assess how CGPP community mobilizers (CMs) functioned in polio and maternal and child health. The Updated Program Functionality Matrix for Optimizing Community Health Programs tool of the CHW Assessment and Improvement Matrix (AIM) was used to examine CGPP CM roles across different contexts. The analysis determined that CGPP CMs met the basic level of functioning (level 3) for 6 of the 10 components of the AIM tool. This cross-country descriptive analysis of the CGPP demonstrates the importance of embracing the full range of CHW AIM components, even in a vertical program. Use of data, community involvement, local adaptation, and linkage with the health system are especially critical for success. This general lesson could be applied to other community mobilization and disease/epidemic control initiatives, especially as we face the issues of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Best wishes, Neil
Let's build a future where children are no longer dying for lack of healthcare information - Join CHIFA (Child Healthcare Information For All): http://www.hifa.org/forums/chifa-child-health-and-rights
CHIFA profile: Neil Pakenham-Walsh is the coordinator of the HIFA campaign (Healthcare Information For All) and assistant moderator of the CHIFA forum. Twitter: @hifa_org FB: facebook.com/HIFAdotORG neil@hifa.org
