Community health workers in Lesotho: Experiences of health promotion activities
Background: Lesotho adopted primary health care in 1979, and community health workers (CHWs) were included in the programme to focus on health promotion, particularly to reach people in underserved rural areas. Although the CHW programme has been successful, the heavy burden of disease because of HI...
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doaj-24020bbdd2664e1989454fac27d763252020-11-24T22:07:18ZengAOSISAfrican Journal of Primary Health Care & Family Medicine2071-29282071-29362018-02-01101e1e810.4102/phcfm.v10i1.1558511Community health workers in Lesotho: Experiences of health promotion activitiesThato Seutloali0Lizeka Napoles1Nomonde Bam2Faculty of Health Sciences, School of Health Systems and Public Health, University of PretoriaFaculty of Health Sciences, School of Health Systems and Public Health, University of PretoriaFaculty of Health Sciences, School of Health Systems and Public Health, University of PretoriaBackground: Lesotho adopted primary health care in 1979, and community health workers (CHWs) were included in the programme to focus on health promotion, particularly to reach people in underserved rural areas. Although the CHW programme has been successful, the heavy burden of disease because of HIV and/or AIDS and tuberculosis shifted resources from health promotion to home-based care. Aim: The study explored the lived experience of CHWs in conducting health promotion activities in Lesotho. Setting: The study was conducted in four health centres in Berea district, Lesotho. Methods: A qualitative study was conducted using an interviewer guide translated from English into Sesotho for four CHW focus group discussions, four individual interviews of key informants and four semi-structured interviews with the health centre nurses. Results: The roles of CHWs in health promotion ranged from offering basic first aid and home-based care to increasing access to health care services by taking patients to the facilities and promoting behaviour change through health education. Their perceived successes included increased access to health care services and reduced mortality rates. CHW challenges involved their demotivation to carry out their work because of lack of or inconsistent financial incentives and supplies, work overload which compromises quality of their work and limited community involvement. Conclusion: This study concludes that CHWs are beneficial to health promotion and its various activities. They had a clear understanding of their roles and responsibilities, although they did not fully comprehend that what they were describing was, in fact, health promotion. When it came to advocacy, CHWs did not fully understand it, nor did they consider it as part of their roles, although they acknowledged its importance. Their role of increasing access to health care services by accompanying patients to the facilities has increased considerably because of changes in disease burden. This is affecting their ability to practise other health promotion activities which focus on disease prevention.https://phcfm.org/index.php/phcfm/article/view/1558Health PromotionCommunity Health Workers |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Thato Seutloali Lizeka Napoles Nomonde Bam |
spellingShingle |
Thato Seutloali Lizeka Napoles Nomonde Bam Community health workers in Lesotho: Experiences of health promotion activities African Journal of Primary Health Care & Family Medicine Health Promotion Community Health Workers |
author_facet |
Thato Seutloali Lizeka Napoles Nomonde Bam |
author_sort |
Thato Seutloali |
title |
Community health workers in Lesotho: Experiences of health promotion activities |
title_short |
Community health workers in Lesotho: Experiences of health promotion activities |
title_full |
Community health workers in Lesotho: Experiences of health promotion activities |
title_fullStr |
Community health workers in Lesotho: Experiences of health promotion activities |
title_full_unstemmed |
Community health workers in Lesotho: Experiences of health promotion activities |
title_sort |
community health workers in lesotho: experiences of health promotion activities |
publisher |
AOSIS |
series |
African Journal of Primary Health Care & Family Medicine |
issn |
2071-2928 2071-2936 |
publishDate |
2018-02-01 |
description |
Background: Lesotho adopted primary health care in 1979, and community health workers (CHWs) were included in the programme to focus on health promotion, particularly to reach people in underserved rural areas. Although the CHW programme has been successful, the heavy burden of disease because of HIV and/or AIDS and tuberculosis shifted resources from health promotion to home-based care.
Aim: The study explored the lived experience of CHWs in conducting health promotion activities in Lesotho.
Setting: The study was conducted in four health centres in Berea district, Lesotho.
Methods: A qualitative study was conducted using an interviewer guide translated from English into Sesotho for four CHW focus group discussions, four individual interviews of key informants and four semi-structured interviews with the health centre nurses.
Results: The roles of CHWs in health promotion ranged from offering basic first aid and home-based care to increasing access to health care services by taking patients to the facilities and promoting behaviour change through health education. Their perceived successes included increased access to health care services and reduced mortality rates. CHW challenges involved their demotivation to carry out their work because of lack of or inconsistent financial incentives and supplies, work overload which compromises quality of their work and limited community involvement.
Conclusion: This study concludes that CHWs are beneficial to health promotion and its various activities. They had a clear understanding of their roles and responsibilities, although they did not fully comprehend that what they were describing was, in fact, health promotion. When it came to advocacy, CHWs did not fully understand it, nor did they consider it as part of their roles, although they acknowledged its importance. Their role of increasing access to health care services by accompanying patients to the facilities has increased considerably because of changes in disease burden. This is affecting their ability to practise other health promotion activities which focus on disease prevention. |
topic |
Health Promotion Community Health Workers |
url |
https://phcfm.org/index.php/phcfm/article/view/1558 |
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AT thatoseutloali communityhealthworkersinlesothoexperiencesofhealthpromotionactivities AT lizekanapoles communityhealthworkersinlesothoexperiencesofhealthpromotionactivities AT nomondebam communityhealthworkersinlesothoexperiencesofhealthpromotionactivities |
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