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Community health workers for pandemic response: a rapid evidence synthesis
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  • Published on: 6 November 2020
    An integrated primary health care response to COVID-19 in Siaya, Kenya
    • Neema Kaseje, Surgeon & Public Health Specialist Surgical Systems Research Group
    • Other Contributors:
      • Andrew Haines, Professor
      • Kennedy Oruenjo, Director
      • Dan Kaseje, Professor
      • Marcel Tanner, Professor

    Title: An integrated primary health care response to COVID-19 in Siaya, Kenya

    Authors: Neema Kaseje, Andy Haines, Kennedy Oruenjo, Dan Kaseje, and Marcel Tanner.

    We note that the article makes a strong case for the critical role of community health workers (CHWs) in pandemics, and we would like to outline the experience of rapid scale up of a programme to support CHWs in Siaya, Western Kenya.

    On November 6th 2020, the Kenya Ministry of Health (MOH) reported a total of 59’595 COVID-19 cases and 1072 deaths due to COVID-19 (1).

    In the last 4 months, to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, we deployed CHWs, equipped with mobile technology, and accompanied by young university graduates under 30 years old. They visited households door to door and screened community members for symptoms of COVID-19. They isolated, tested, and managed suspected cases of COVID-19. Symptomatic testing was performed at home (by the Siaya rapid response team) and in health facilities (by clinicians). Youth were included to build their capacity in health interventions and provide them with practical experience during the lockdown period in Kenya. They were selected based on their academic credentials, their interest in working with CHWs, and their ability to use digital tools. CHWs and youth educated households about preventive measures including frequent handwashing, universal mask wearing (indoors when visitors are present and outdoors), and home management of mild case...

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    Conflict of Interest:
    None declared.