220671 Community health workers in maternal and child health care: What we can learn from less developed countries

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Jacqueline Wallen, PhD , Department of Family Science, School of Public Health, University of Maryland, College Park, MD
While much progress has been made toward achieving the Healthy People 2010 maternal and child health goals, there are a number of areas that have proven resistant to positive change. These include: use of preconception care, rates of cesarean birth, preterm births, low birth weight, and maternal complications during labor and delivery. There are still socioeconomic, racial, and cultural disparities in access to maternal and child health care, as a result of which many disparities in health status remain. A number of less developed countries have enhanced access to maternal and child health care through the use of community health workers of various kinds. This paper analyzes and creates a typology of the kinds of community health workers that have been used globally in maternal and child health and makes recommendations concerning how quality of and access to maternal and child health care in the U.S. might be improved through the use of some of these providers.

Learning Areas:
Administer health education strategies, interventions and programs
Other professions or practice related to public health
Planning of health education strategies, interventions, and programs
Provision of health care to the public

Learning Objectives:
Differentiate among roles played by various types of community health workers in less developed countries Describe new ways in which community health workers can improve the delivery of maternal and child health services in the U.S.

Keywords: Health Care Delivery, Providers

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am a university professor who teaches and conducts research on maternal and child health
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 4329.0: MCH Poster Session II