Dear HIFA colleagues,
Re: What can other countries learn from Malawi’s Health Surveillance Assistant model?
I would like to share a little about Malawi’s experience with community-based health workers and invite colleagues from other countries to share their own experiences.
Malawi has a long-standing cadre of community health workers known as Health Surveillance Assistants (HSAs). They work closely with communities and contribute to immunisation, disease surveillance, health education, sanitation, nutrition, maternal and child health, and other primary health-care activities.
Having worked with and around HSAs for many years, I have seen how important they are in connecting communities with the formal health system. I have also seen some of the challenges they face, including workload, transport, supervision, training, resources and recognition.
I would therefore be interested to hear from colleagues in other countries:
What community health worker cadres exist in your countries, and what have you found to be the most effective ways of supporting them?
In particular, I would welcome experiences relating to:
workload and responsibilities;
training and professional development;
supervision and support;
community trust;
transport and other working resources; and
recognition and career progression.
It would be particularly interesting to compare the Malawi experience with approaches in other low- and middle-income countries.
I look forward to learning from colleagues across the HIFA community.
Best regards,
Prestor Kubalalika
Prestor Kubalalika,
UNICEF zonal Consultant,
Polio SIA eradication
Cell: +265-999978886
Cell: +265-888379054
pkubalalika@unicef.org
prestorkubalalika@gmail.com
HIFA profile: Prestor Kubalalika is an Independent Public Health & Immunization Specialist at Centre for Community Health Promotion (CECOHPROM), Malawi. My professional interests include public health, primary health care, community health systems, immunization, disease surveillance, health education, WASH, nutrition and health-system strengthening. I have extensive experience working with and around community-based health workers, particularly Health Surveillance Assistants in Malawi. I am interested in sharing practical field experience and learning from community health approaches in other countries, particularly across Africa and other low- and middle-income settings. prestor25 AT gmail.com