Increasing Vitamin A Supplementation Coverage through the Involvement of Community Health Workers during Biannual Child Health Weeks in Zambia

Purpose of the work:

To review contribution of community health workers in the Vitamin A supplementation programme.

Background:

Zambia currently has a relatively high infant mortality rate of 95/1000 live births under the age of one year and 165/1000 live births under the age of five respectively. Vitamin A supplementation has been adopted as a key strategy to address Zambia's Millennium Development goal of reducing Infant Mortality. Vitamin A deficiency in Zambia in children under 5 years of age is currently 53%. Vitamin A supplementation is implemented through Child Health Week (CHWk). CHWk is a health delivery strategy that is implemented biannually. Community Health Workers are utilized to provide Vitamin A supplements to children aged 6 to 59 months in communities.

Method:

Desk review of Child Health Week and Vitamin A survey reports

Results:

Coverage for Vitamin A supplementation has increased from 28% to over 70% through the implementation of the Child Health Week program. This increase in coverage has been successful because the strategy does not rely entirely on health workers for service provision. Facilitating factors include the existence of community level structures linked to health centers, and the value placed in participation in implementation of health programs despite minimal motivation.

Conclusions:

The participation of community health workers in the Child Health Week program has contributed to a significant increase on the national coverage of Vitamin A supplementation.