Effects of Urban Violence on Primary Healthcare: The Challenges of Community Health Workers in Performing House Calls in Dangerous Areas

Bellas, Hugo Cesar; Jatobá, Alessandro; Bulhões, Bárbara; Koster, Isabella; Arcuri, Rodrigo; Burns, Catherine M.; Grindrod, Kelly; Carvalho, Paulo Cezar Pinto

doi:10.1007/s10900-019-00657-2

Cited by 13 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…Regarding major challenges faced, the literature points out that despite usually living in the area under the responsibility of their primary care clinics, CHWs are not trained to handle highly complex social concerns. Residents of low-income communities in Brazil are typically affected by violence, drug traffic, precarious housing and hygiene conditions, and extreme poverty [15]. Such social complexity is likely to lead to a high incidence of exhaustion and mental disorders among CHWs [14].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Community health workers’ attitudes, practices and perceptions towards the COVID-19 pandemic in brazilian low-income communities

Costa

Bellas

Silva

et al. 2021

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BACKGROUND: Community Health Workers (CHW) are a category of social workers described in many countries’ health systems as responsible for engaging people in their residences and communities, and other non-clinical spaces to enable access to health services, especially in low-income areas. These professionals have been exposed to numerous new risks during the COVID-19 pandemic. OBJECTIVE: This study describes how the COVID-19 pandemic is perceived by CHWs who work in poor communities or slums in Brazil. METHODS: We conducted an online survey with a random sample of 775 CHWs operating in 368 municipalities of the 26 Brazilian states. At a confidence level of 95%, results of the survey were subject to a maximum sampling error of 4%. RESULTS: Our data indicate that the negationist agenda increases the challenges to the performance of CHWs within low-income communities, preventing the consensus on the necessity of social distancing, business closures and other measures to face the COVID-19 pandemic. CONCLUSION: The pandemic imposes unexpected challenges on the usual modes of interaction of public health officers with poor communities. This study provides evidence that these challenges have been ignored or minimized in Brazilian policy prescriptions for primary care in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Community health workers’ attitudes, practices and perceptions towards the COVID-19 pandemic in brazilian low-income communities

Costa

Bellas

Silva

et al. 2021

WOR

Self Cite

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“…One interesting aspect the model displays is how the community health workers ( Bellas et al, 2019 ; Wennerstrom and Rush, 2016 ) based on the riverine communities – when available – play a fundamental role in addressing the emergencies in this region. They do so in three ways: Mediating communication between the patient/community and the SAMU service , often requesting it themselves.…”

Section: Study Imentioning

confidence: 99%

On the brink of disruption: Applying Resilience Engineering to anticipate system performance under crisis

et al. 2022

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“…Moreover, high violence levels may block access to preventive health care, thus affecting disease transmission (Krystosik et al, 2018). Providing health care in dangerous areas with high urban violence may be challenging (Bellas et al, 2019). While the impact of violence on health is a global problem, it is especially concerning in low-and middle-income countries (Matzopoulos et al, 2008).…”

Section: Health and Well-being In Violent Areasmentioning

confidence: 99%

Are homicides and robberies associated with mortality due to COVID-19? Lessons from Urban Mexico

Masferrer¹,

Chávez²

2022

Populationyearbook

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Studies on the symbiosis of crime and COVID-19 have analyzed governmentmandated lockdown effects. However, it is unknown to what extent previous crime rates determined a larger and more mortal spread of the pandemic. We study how homicides and robberies in the pre-pandemic year of 2019 are associated with 2020 mortality rates due to COVID-19 in urban municipalities in Mexico. Considering sex differentials in health, exposure to the virus and experiences of violence, we study whether gender differences in mortality exist in 2020. Using publicly available data on deaths due to COVID-19 provided by the Mexican Secretariat of Health, along with a series of indicators to characterize local pre-pandemic conditions of urban municipalities, we estimate a series of ordinary least squares (OLS) regression models on age-standardized crude death rates (ASCDR) by sex. Findings show that homicides—a proxy for criminal violence that might encourage people to stay home—show significant negative associations with mortality rates. Comparatively, robberies—a proxy of local violence and safety—were positively associated with mortality rates for both sexes. Sex differences in the determinants of ASCDR are discussed.

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Effects of Urban Violence on Primary Healthcare: The Challenges of Community Health Workers in Performing House Calls in Dangerous Areas

Cited by 13 publications

References 30 publications

Community health workers’ attitudes, practices and perceptions towards the COVID-19 pandemic in brazilian low-income communities

Community health workers’ attitudes, practices and perceptions towards the COVID-19 pandemic in brazilian low-income communities

On the brink of disruption: Applying Resilience Engineering to anticipate system performance under crisis

Are homicides and robberies associated with mortality due to COVID-19? Lessons from Urban Mexico

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