Update on survey to identify resources that support mental wellbeing of CHWs
In May 2020, the George Institute for Global Health and the Thematic Working Group (TWG) on Community Health Workers (CHWs) of Health Systems Global collaborated on a survey to assess the availability of resources that support the mental wellbeing of CHWs in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) during the COVID-19 pandemic.
We were delighted to receive 74 complete responses (25% from India; 8% from Kenya; 5% from Peru amongst many other countries including Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Nepal, the Philippines and South Africa) from a range of organisations, predominantly those working directly with CHWs.
Since the survey closed, the team from The George Institute for Global Health and from the CHW TWG have reviewed responses and identified how best to share insights. We have drafted a commentary building on the findings that while ~50% of organisations noticed mental health symptoms among CHWs and 55% were providing support via mechanisms such as online training and Whatsapp peer support, thus far these interventions have not been evaluated and major gaps persist in supporting the mental health of CHWs.
We are also planning a virtual workshop to identify strategies for:
- disseminating gender-sensitive resources to CHWs, especially those working in LMICs, that can help them manage symptoms of anxiety, depression, and other symptoms of mental distress;
- encouraging uptake of such resources, despite stigma around mental illness and competing demands on the CHWs’ time; and
- developing a plan for evaluating the acceptability and effectiveness of these resources during the COVID-19 pandemic.
All survey respondents will be invited, along with at least one CHW that they work with. We will circulate details of the above via email in the coming weeks. In the meantime, do follow us on Twitter @georgeinstitute and @H_S_Global with #CHWmentalhealth for all our latest news.
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Image credit: © 2020 The George Institute for Global Health
