Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40671690›Full record

ArticleRisk management and healthcare policy2025

Improving Community Health Program: Perspective of Community Health Workers in the Eastern Cape, South Africa.

Uchenna Benedine Okafor, Iyabo Obasanjo, Daniel Ter Goon

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Risk management and healthcare policy, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
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1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Uchenna Benedine OkaforDepartment of Nursing Science, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Walter Sisulu University, Mthatha, 5117, South Africa.ORCID 0000-0002-0435-2041
Iyabo ObasanjoFaculty of Health Sciences, University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD, USA.
Daniel Ter GoonFaculty of Health Sciences, University of Limpopo, Polokwane, 0727, South Africa.ORCID 0000-0001-9070-7875

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Introduction: One of the challenges CHWs face in their profession is their underrepresentation in program advancement. Despite the importance of community health workers as an adjunct health workforce providing crucial healthcare services to the rural, marginalized, and underserved populations, their opinions on strengthening the CHW program remain understudied in certain geographical contexts. Consequently, this study explores the opinions of community health workers regarding the support systems desirable for their effective delivery of healthcare support services in the Buffalo Municipality City, Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. Methods: In-depth individual, semi-structured interviews (n=10) as well as focus groups interviews (n=13) were conducted with 23 community health workers, using an audio recorder with their permission to record the interviews. Content and thematic data analysis was applied. Results: The CHWs made several suggestions to assist them serve the community better and improve the community health program. These include provision of transportation, constant training workshops to enhance and maintain their skills and knowledge, support to improve communication with clients, provision of work identifiers to earn community's recognition, respect, and trust, and improvement in human and material resources to mitigate the overwhelming workload. In addition, they emphasised the need to address job insecurity by offering them with permanent, salaried positions, as well as the safety concerns posed by violent crimes in the communities they served. Conclusion: The findings of this study have implications for improving the practise of CHW programs, policies, and future research recommendations, emphasising the need to take into considerations, the suggestions of the CHWs in improving the CHW program to enable them to provide effective and optimal healthcare support services to clients and the community. We advocated for the integration of community health workers into the larger healthcare system.

Indexed as

challengescommunity health workersSouth Africastrategiesstrengthening

Identifiers

PMID40671690
PMCPMC12266077

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY-NC
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.