Fully in agreement.
In India, too, it is unpaid volunteers who contribute to an extent.
For the voluntary HCWs, there is a sense of obligation to the community and a sense of satisfaction that they are contributing to a cause. At times, these voluntary inputs through the informal use of the mobile phone are also to connect with health teams, in the hope of getting a salaried job in the health care setting.
Sometimes, they learn on the job, and adhere to the guidelines at their work place (often the NGOs working in the area).
*The guidelines can be made by the HIS, and by the Health administration but there is no binding reason to continue for long without the security and dignity that a salaried job can* *offer.*
Best regards,
Sunanda
Dr. Sunanda K. Reddy
HIFA profile: Sunanda Kolli Reddy is a Developmental Paediatrician from New Delhi, India, with a special interest in Early Child Care and Development of children with neurodevelopmental problems in underserved communities. She is actively involved in health promotion, community-based research, care provider training for promoting abilities of children with special needs, through the various programmes of Centre for Applied Research and Education on Neurodevelopmental Impairments and Disability-related Health Initiatives (CARENIDHI), which she heads (www.carenidhi.org). Her work in the community settings to widen the disability-in-development model of CBR encompasses the wider determinants of health and human capabilities and issues which impact the lives of the poor. She combines her experience in developmental paediatrics with the core work of CARENIDHI's grassroots convergence programmes in partnership with groups working in the area of Implementation research and policy. She is a member of the HIFA working group on Community Health Workers.
http://www.hifa.org/projects/community-health-workers
http://www.hifa.org/support/members/sunanda
write2sunanda AT gmail.com