Overview of the participation of community health workers in primary health care in 6 Latin American countries and a proposal for their integration into the health system: a qualitative study

Autores organización

• Irene Catalina Parra Garcia

  Autor

• Luis Alejandro Gomez Barrera

  Autor

Autores

• Zuñiga R.O.

Unidades de investigación

• Complejidad y Salud Pública

  

  Investigador

  Santiago Galvis Villamizar

• FHISCIS – Grupo de Filosofía, Historia y Sociología de las Ciencias

  Investigador

  Camilo Duque Naranjo

Resumen

Background: According to some health programmes, implementing primary health care through community health workers (CHWs) facilitates the connection between community and health services in Latin America. However, these are isolated processes that face different obstacles and would benefit from an overview of the corresponding health policies and programmes. Objective: To provide an overview of CHW participation in 6 Latin American countries. Methods: This exploratory qualitative study was based on 3 sources of information: a literature review, a review of public health policy documents, and interviews with experts who have led CHW programmes in 6 Latin American countries. Results: The role of CHWs in Latin America and some advances in public health policies in the region were evidenced. However, limitations arising from variable implementation of the WHO guidelines on health programmes with CHWs were also apparent. Conclusions: CHWs contribute to the primary healthcare processes in the 6 Latin American countries studied in versatile and comprehensive ways. However, they constitute an underutilized human resource because they must provide various services that are not always relevant in different work contexts. Therefore, we propose a classification of the CHW profile, using the level of access to healthcare services of the population they serve as the main differentiator. This way, CHWs will not have to provide a wide range of services but only those most relevant to the specific needs of each community. © 2024 The Author(s).

Keywords

• community health workers; health services accessibility; Latin America; primary health care;Community Health Workers; Humans; Latin America; Primary Health Care; Qualitative Research; Racial Groups; article; community; female; health auxiliary; health care access; health care policy; health program; health service; human; interview; male; participation; practice guideline; primary health care; public health; qualitative research; South and Central America; World Health Organization; ancestry group; primary health care; qualitative research; South and Central America