THE Africa Health Agenda International Conference (AHAIC) 2017 will go down as a historic event for Community Health Workers (CHWs) across Africa following the launch of a continental campaign to get the CHWs paid and integrated into the formal health system.
The campaign was launched during the official opening of AHAIC 2017 on March 7, at the Radisson Blu in Nairobi, Kenya.
Amref Health Africa in collaboration with the African Union (AU) and other partners launched this campaign aimed at making community health workers (CHW) available to everyone everywhere in Africa.
The campaign is called Workers not Volunteers campaign.
The campaign was initiated to acknowledge that CHWs close the gap between communities and the formal health system on the continent.
“CHWs have an important role in health promotion, disease prevention and referral of community members to the formal health system,” says Amref Health Africa Group chief executive officer Dr Githinji Gitahi.
For Dr Gitahi, achieving global health security is only possible if communities in Africa are able to take charge of their health needs including community-based disease surveillance, early disease detection, referral and treatment.
“Considering that more than 50 per cent of Africans do not access the formal health system, Community Health Workers are a critical and necessary part of the continent’s health infrastructure, helping to link communities to the health system,” Dr Gitahi says.
There is no doubt that community health workers are the backbone of a competent community health system.
A functional community health system is key to achieving universal health coverage and the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) health goals.
It is against this background that World Health Organization (WHO) regional director for Africa Dr Matshidiso Moeti stressed the importance of a community-based health system, as this was where the health care need was most pressing.
According to Dr Moeti, many countries in Africa have trained and continue to train CHWs but unable to retain them in service.
Dr Moeti said the current CHWs attrition rate in Africa are as high as 77 percent in some countries.
She notes that as a result of being volunteers, CHWs drop out when they realise that they cannot be formally employed and remunerated with salary and benefits.
“CHWs play an important role in community healthcare. Yet often they have to use personal time and resources to provide to their community members as volunteers,” Dr Moeti said.
And AU Commissioner for Social Affairs Dr Mustapha Sidiki Kaloko said the goal of the campaign is that by 2022 CHWs will be adequately remunerated and recognized as part of the national health workforce by African governments.
Dr Kaloko said among the specific outputs of the campaign is that by 2022 there will be a substantially increased numbers of CHWs who are adequately remunerated by governments and supported by defined salary levels.
“From this campaign, we aim that by 2022 countries will have integrated CHWs into the formal health workforce, supported by policies, and will have up-to-date registeries, standardised national training curricula and accreditation frameworks as part of meeting the Work Force 2040 targets,” Dr Kaloko said.
The event drew the attendance of more than 700 delegates, which is almost double the initial number expected.
And a Kenyan community health volunteer at Mashimoni Health Unit Patrick Malachi who attended the AHAIC also presented the CHV toolkit to delegates and policy makers for signing.
The toolkit will be used to advocate the integration of CHWs into the health workforce.
Mr Malachi said, to him being a volunteer entails that being there anytime he is needed by the community members to help in any way on matters of health, regardless of the time.
“We want the government and health stakeholders to understand the work we do, how much it entails and the need for us to be recognised and paid” he said.
The Africa Health Agenda International Conference is a major step in giving the CHVs the recognition they need, with the launch and signing of the CHW toolkit as this guarantees some form of action in this regard.
Mr Malachi added, “I hope the organisations involved feel challenged to see to the recommendations passed are discussed and implemented, that it’s not just the act of signing and then they forget about it.”
To him, the signing of the toolkit ensures a brighter future for CHWs.
The fact that people trust him and entrust their lives to him for their health needs is enough assurance that what he does is right and helpful.
This alone gives him satisfaction and motivation to keep working and serving his community.
“Serving my people and seeing them healthier by the day gives me joy. It makes me love my work as when my people are happy, I am happy” he says.
And speaking at the closing of the 5 day conference, Wellbeing Foundation Africa’s Founder and President, Toyin Saraki noted that the Sustainable Development Goals provide a new framework for global health hence the need for the Africa Health Agenda to be a distinct part of this global agenda for change.
Mrs Saraki said in order to see this change, there is need to generate home grown solutions to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals across the continent and to also share scientific research findings, evidence and best practices addressing health and health systems in Africa.
“Another key element to the transformation we want to see, there is need to identify and discuss and gaps and challenges in implementing the Sustainable Development Goals in Africa,” Mrs Saraki said.
And in a communique, it has been noted that over the past five days, Africa has once again seen the power of home-grown innovation in addressing the unique challenges of achieving universal healthcare in the continent.
It is understood that Africa’s health system remains weak and fragmented due to decades of under-investment: with 11 percent of the world’s population, it accounts for 24 percent of the global disease burden, has an emerging and high burden of infectious diseases, poor women’s and children’s health and the increasing burden of non-communicable diseases.
Whereas community based healthcare has the potential to contribute to better health outcomes, the gap between the community health and formal health systems remains wide.
Fifty percent of Africans still do not have access to quality healthcare.
It is undeniable that if community participation and ownership be at the center of primary health care and universal health coverage, given the critical role that the community health system plays in linking households to the formal health system, Africa can experience the much needed transformation in healthcare provision. PUBLISHED ON MARCH 12, 2017
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