Health surveillance assistants (HSAs) implement the bulk of community health projects in Malawi; and they do a good job if trained properly and given the appropriate incentives . I can help in organising such trainings if need be.
Challenges involve motivating them to continue doing the work in the community; and providing adequate supervision.
In Zomba district, one particular group that we trained did extremely well in identifying many children from their communities with eye problems.
There is a World Health Organisation document which talks about guidelines for incentives for health workers, and I am currently studying it to find out which ones can be available to motivate the HSA’s
Without HSA’s ,I believe the health system at community level would collapse in Malawi .But can HSA’s do everything and do it well? Have you heard about Task shifting? If not ,that will be the subject of my next blog. Have a good day.
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