Strengthening the Capabilities of Community Health Workers

Community health workers provide basic health and medical care within their communities. There are dozens of these trained men and women across the country and as the communities grow, reliance on these workers increases.  To expand the scope of these workers’ capabilities and ensure that they are adequately supported, the Ministry of Health and its partners have launched the updated Community Health Workers Manual and job aid tool. News Five’s Britney Gordon was at the ceremony today for more details.

 

Britney Gordon, Reporting

For many people living in remote areas of the country, accessing immediate healthcare can be a challenge, particularly for the elderly or those living with disabilities. Often, community health workers are the first point of contact in receiving medical attention. This year, Belize is strengthening resources and support for these workers with the launch of the revised Community Healthcare Workers Manual. Technical Advisor for the Ministry of Health and Wellness, Kathleen Azueta Cho explained that the last update to the manual came in 2013, and considering the country’s growing reliance on these workers, the need for additional support was crucial.

 

Kathleen Azueta Cho, Technical Advisor, MOHW

“This new manual that we are launching today is a comprehensive document that encompasses the different topics that are cross cutting across the Ministry of Health and Wellness. It includes topics ranging from maternal child health, mental health, which was deficient in the first manual. We have environmental health, we have nutrition, and it really is a document that was developed with feedback from the different partners and the community health workers themselves. Initially we started with a review and a desk analysis of what is existing and what is deficient.”

 

The community health workers will also be receiving a job aid tool and an increased monthly stipend of five hundred dollars. The job aid tool is a portable flipbook that workers can reference while out in the field for additional information. Minister of Health and Wellness, Kevin Bernard says that further resources are in the works.

 

 

 

Kevin Bernard, Minister of Health and Wellness

“Our steps include expanding partnerships with international financial institutions to optimize the CHW program. We aim to equip our community health workers with digital tools like tablets to transform and streamline their work, enhance communication, and improve the quality of care they provide. We will also develop an operational monitoring and evaluation plan for community health programs.  This will ensure that our health care services are effective, efficient, and responsive to community needs. It is crucial to invest in the elements of CHW programs such as supervision, structures, and continuous training, but equally important is fostering trusting relationships between our CHWs, our community members, and health professionals.”

 

UNICEF and Official Development Assistance Korea are key players in providing support and funding for the program. Health and Nutrition specialist at UNICEF, Doctor Olusola Oladeji explained UNICEF’S role in bringing this project into fruition.

 

 

 

 

Dr. Olusola Oladejo, Health and Nutrition Specialist, UNICEF

“Last days we had the discussion with the ECOPA unit led by miss Kathleen and her team to look at the community health workers program as well in Belize. We used a tool called community health workers problem matrix to assess what are the areas of improvement. One of the area we discover was the training, the old manual that was developed in 2013 was found not to be sufficient anymore in terms of the content, if you could remember in the last few years, especially during the COVID community health workers were very supportive during the COVID outbreak. So that led to the need to review their time of reference, their scope of work as much as possible. And more importantly because when the  government increased their stipend from a hundred Belize dollars to five hundred Belize dollars. It became so important that there used to be need to expand their scope of work.”

 

Britney Gordon for News Five.