WHO: Community health workers - risk reduction and preparedness

Source(s): World Health Organization (WHO)

In times of crisis, what often makes headlines is the international response. But in most cases, those who provide the initial lifesaving care are health workers from the very communities affected.

WHO works with governments and partners to equip, train and prepare community health workers worldwide to provide critical care for millions of people affected by natural disasters, war and other crises, and the health risks that follow.

Local health workers help ensure equity in health at grassroots levels - urban and remote - and contribute to country efforts to ensure health care for all, particularly the poor, underserved and underprivileged. These workers are trained in hygiene, first aid, immunization and other essential primary health care services and form the backbone of any emergency health response.

This photo essay highlights the critical role these workers play in saving lives by preparing for and responding to emergencies.

Delivering immediate response - photo one
To save lives in emergencies, time is of the essence. Community health workers are more often than not the closest to hand when people are in need of first aid, triage and other essential health care, assisting in search and rescue operations and providing emergency relief items.

Assessing, monitoring risks - photo two
As key members of the community, grassroots health workers are well placed to assess risks to their own towns and villages. They can identify vulnerable groups, such as children, women and the elderly, detect trends in disease patterns and provide early warning for rapid response to emergencies.

Mobilizing communities to respond - photo three
Mobilizing grassroots health action by people is a basic function of community health workers. This way, they empower people and different sectors to protect public health by detecting disease outbreaks, preventing malnutrition, promoting healthy behaviour and avoiding hazards.

Treating common illnesses - photo four
Treating people with common illnesses is one role of community health workers. Pneumonia, for example, is a leading killer of children worldwide, including in humanitarian settings where people are displaced that community health workers in many vulnerable countries treat, including in people's homes.

Promoting good health - photo five
Health workers operating in communities help identify priority health concerns and promote good primary health practices. These include early home visits for newborns which help communities improve child survival, growth and development in emergency settings.

Risk reduction, emergency preparedness - photo six
Training local health workers to be able to identify hazards to communities, help make towns and villages less vulnerable and increase the capacity of people to respond to emergencies is a powerful way to protect public health. WHO also trains health workers in many locations, such as Burundi and South Sudan, to treat patients during pandemics, such as H1N1, malaria outbreaks and to control disease spread.

Recovering from disasters - photo seven
The work of community health workers in acute crises helps devastated health systems recover and be more resilient in the future. The skills and knowledge of such workers provides the base on which local health services have been built back better in many countries, such as in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Burundi, where health care is being provided in camps for people displaced by long-running conflict.

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