Negusse, Haile and McAuliffe, Eilish and MacLachlan, Malcolm (2007) Initial community perspectives on the Health Service Extension Programme in Welkait, Ethiopia. Human Resources for Health, 5 (1). ISSN 1478-4491

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Abstract

ackground The Health Service Extension Programme (HSEP) is an innovative approach to addressing the shortfall in health human resources in Ethiopia. It has developed a new cadre of Health Extension Workers (HEWs), who are charged with providing the health and hygiene promotion and some treatment services, which together constitute the bedrock of Ethiopia's community health system. Methods This study seeks to explore the experience of the HSEP from the perspective of the community who received the service. A random sample of 60 female heads-of-household in a remote area of Tigray participated in a structured interview survey. Results Although Health Extension Workers (HEWs) had visited them less frequently than planned, participants generally found the programme to be helpful. Despite this, their basic health knowledge was still quite poor regarding the major communicable diseases and their vectors. Participants felt the new HESP represented an improvement on previous health provision. HEWs were preferred over Traditional Birth Attendants for assistance with labour. Conclusion While the introduction of HEWs has been a positive experience for women living at the study site, the frequency of visits, extent of effectively imparted health knowledge and affects of HEWs on other health providers needs to be further explored.

Item Type:	Article
Keywords:	Initial; community; perspectives; Health Service Extension Programme; Welkait; Ethiopia;
Academic Unit:	Assisting Living & Learning,ALL institute Faculty of Science and Engineering > Psychology
Item ID:	16528
Identification Number:	https://doi.org/10.1186/1478-4491-5-21
Depositing User:	Malcolm MacLachlan
Date Deposited:	19 Sep 2022 13:49
Journal or Publication Title:	Human Resources for Health
Publisher:	BioMed Central
Refereed:	Yes
URI:	Publisher
Use Licence:	This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here

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