Key result
Community health volunteers successfully perform hypertension screening and counseling despite documentation challenges.
Why the study?
The role of community health volunteers in non-communicable diseases such as hypertension is not well understood, unlike their roles in communicable diseases.
Observational (n=15)
Yes
Community health volunteers play complex and multifaceted roles in screening, monitoring, and educating patients about hypertension in Malawi, highlighting the need for targeted training.
Supports task-shifting hypertension care to community volunteers in low-resource settings; leaves open optimal training and documentation protocols for scale-up.
BACKGROUND: In recent years, there has been greater recognition of the important role of community health volunteers in many countries and their important role informs many health programs. This include health education, provision of services such as screening, monitoring and referral to health facilities. Their roles are better understood in the areas of communicable diseases like HIV infection, Tuberculosis and Malaria however little is known about their role in non-communicable diseases. This study seeks to explore perception of CHVs' functions, tasks, and their fulfilment in identifying people with elevated blood pressure for diagnosis and monitoring of hypertension in Lilongwe, Malawi. METHODS: This was a qualitative naturalistic research design utilizing observation and semi-structured interviews with community health volunteers working in Lilongwe, Malawi. Interviews were carried out with the researcher. Participants were recruited from the ZaMaC project. An interview guide was developed with a category-guided deductive approach. The interviews were recorded through note taking. Data analysis was performed using content analysis approach. RESULTS: Community health volunteers have multiple roles in prevention and monitoring of hypertension. They act as health educators and provide lifestyle counselling. They screened for hypertension and monitored blood pressure and assisted community members to navigate the health system such as linkage to health facilities. These roles were shaped in response to community needs. CONCLUSION: This study indicates the complexities of the roles of community health volunteer in identifying people with elevated BP for diagnosis and monitoring of hypertension. Understanding community health volunteers' roles provides insight into their required competencies in provision of their daily activities as well as required training to fill in their knowledge gaps.
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Safary et al. (2021) conducted an observational in Hypertension (n=15). Community health volunteer-led hypertension screening and monitoring was evaluated on Perception of CHVs' functions, tasks, and their fulfilment in identifying people with elevated blood pressure. Community health volunteers in Malawi successfully performed multiple roles in hypertension prevention and monitoring, including screening, lifestyle counseling, and health system navigation, though they faced challenges with documentation and required ongoing training.
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