Accelerating Health Service and Data Capturing Trough Community Health Workers in Rural Ethiopia - A Pre-requisite to Progress

Damtew, Zufan Abera

doi:10.5220/0004135101680177

Cited by 2 publications

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“…Currently, there is a pilot program involving an electronic community health information system for some health posts in the Oromia region so that HEWs can use a tablet computer for recordkeeping purposes. In addition, previous studies on HEWs in Ethiopia have already examined the potential for and the feasibility of using mobile devices for communication and data collection [13,[28][29][30][31]. A qualitative study based on the Ethiopian context suggested that HEWs who participated in the intervention involving smartphones for data collection saw it as a "helping hand" [31].…”

Section: Principal Findingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gaps in Team Communication About Service Statistics Among Health Extension Workers in Ethiopia: Secondary Data Analysis (Preprint)

Lee¹,

Kim²,

Desta³

2020

Preprint

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BACKGROUND Team communication is an important component for effective teamwork but community-based health workers in low-resource settings may face challenges in team communication for service statistics due to their extensive travel and outreach activities. Particularly, it has been known that health extension workers (HEWs) in rural Ethiopia spend approximately 75% of their working time on outreach activities and 15.5% on travel. Therefore, there could be gaps in team communication for service statistics among HEWs in terms of scheduling a meeting in a physical location and generating basic statistics from paper-based field book they carry while traveling. OBJECTIVE The study aimed to identify gaps in team communication for service statistics among HEWs in Ethiopia and to explore the potential for mobile communication and data collection as a tool for bridging these gaps. METHODS Most recent Performance Monitoring and Accountability 2020 service delivery point data was used for analysis. Logistic regression analysis was performed to identify disparities in team communication for service statistics on family planning, which is a major component of HEWs’ task. The disparities were examined across health facilities with different levels of HEW integration into their staffing structure. Additionally, chi-square test was conducted to examine disparities in access to electricity for exploring the potential for mobile communication and data collection. RESULTS 427 health facilities of 4 different types were included for analysis. 84 out of 95 health posts (88%) had HEWs as the only staff position while no health clinic has integrated HEW model in their staffing structure. For these 84 facilities, the odds of having team meetings on family planning service statistics during last 12 months were 0.48 times the odds for those without HEWs (p-value=0.02). No statistically significant difference was found between HEW-only facilities and facilities with at least 1 HEW. 83% of health facilities with HEWs as the only staff had no electricity at the time of the survey while 71% of them had electricity but out for 2 or more hours that day. There were statistically significant differences in access to electricity among health facilities with different levels of HEW integration (chi-square p-value<0.001). CONCLUSIONS Facilities with HEWs as the only staff position were less likely to have regular team communication for discussing service statistics. Considering their responsibilities for extensive outreach and travel involving paper-based recordkeeping, empowering them with mobile communication and data collection can be a workable solution. The empirical evidence in disparities in access to electricity also supports the need for and feasibility of this approach.

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Section: Principal Findingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gaps in Team Communication About Service Statistics Among Health Extension Workers in Ethiopia: Secondary Data Analysis (Preprint)

Lee¹,

Kim²,

Desta³

2020

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Gaps in Team Communication About Service Statistics Among Health Extension Workers in Ethiopia: Secondary Data Analysis

Lee¹,

Kim²,

Desta³

2020

JMIR Mhealth Uhealth

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Background In Ethiopia, health extension workers (HEWs) are deployed across the country by the government to meet public health needs. Team communication is important for effective teamwork, but community health workers in low-resource settings like Ethiopia may face challenges in carrying out team meetings to compile service statistics. This is due to the nature of their outreach activities, which requires extensive travel. Objective This study aimed to identify gaps in team communication about service statistics among HEWs in Ethiopia. Considering mobile communication and data collection as tools for bridging these gaps, we examined disparities in access to electricity, which has been identified as one of the major barriers to this approach. Methods Data from the most recent Performance Monitoring and Accountability 2020 service delivery point survey were used for our analysis. Logistic regression analysis was performed to identify disparities in team communication on service statistics for family planning, which is a major component of the HEW’s job. Disparities were examined across health facilities with different levels of HEW integration in their staffing structure (ie, no HEWs, at least one HEW, or only HEWs). Additionally, a chi-square test was conducted to examine disparities in access to electricity to explore the potential of mobile communication and data collection integration. Results In total, 427 health facilities of four different types (ie, hospitals, health centers, health posts, and health clinics) were included in our analysis. At most health posts (84/95, 88%), only HEWs were employed; none of the health clinics integrated the HEW model into their staffing structure. Among the 84 health posts, the odds of having team meetings on family planning service statistics in the past 12 months were 0.48 times the odds of those without HEWs (P=.02). No statistically significant differences were found between HEW-only facilities and facilities with at least one HEW. Most health facilities (69/83, 83.13%) with HEWs as the only staff had no electricity at the time of the survey while 71.25% (57/80) had intermittent access (ie, service disruption lasting 2 or more hours that day). There were statistically significant differences in electricity access among health facilities with different levels of HEW integration (P<.001). Conclusions Facilities employing only HEWs were less likely to have regular team meetings to discuss service statistics. Since their responsibilities involve extensive outreach activities, travel, and paper-based recordkeeping, empowering HEWs with mobile communication and data collection can be a workable solution. The empirical evidence regarding disparities in electricity access also supports the need for and the feasibility of this approach.

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Accelerating Health Service and Data Capturing Trough Community Health Workers in Rural Ethiopia - A Pre-requisite to Progress

Cited by 2 publications

References 0 publications

Gaps in Team Communication About Service Statistics Among Health Extension Workers in Ethiopia: Secondary Data Analysis (Preprint)

Gaps in Team Communication About Service Statistics Among Health Extension Workers in Ethiopia: Secondary Data Analysis (Preprint)

Gaps in Team Communication About Service Statistics Among Health Extension Workers in Ethiopia: Secondary Data Analysis

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