Equipping Community Based Primary Health Care Workers to Prevent, Diagnose, and Manage Non-Communicable Diseases

The global disease burden is shifting from communicable to non-communicable diseases (NCDs), and is expected to grow 17% over the next 10 years. 50% of deaths worldwide are caused by NCDs with 80% of NCD-related deaths occurring in low- and middle-income countries. Community Health Workers (CHWs) will be increasing called upon to address NCDs in the coming decade, though few programs are training CHWs to prevent, diagnose, and manage NCDs. As respected community members, health care providers, and experts in local health and cultural realities, CHWs are uniquely positioned to provide an integrated approach to NCDs in their communities.

Hesperian’s global grassroots partners have requested health content on NCDs to help CHWs to identify, provide case management, provide secondary care referrals and prevent NCDs in resource-poor settings.  After undertaking a literature review and a study of existing models of community based care for NCDs, Hesperian developed groundbreaking new content on diabetes, hypertension, cancer, and chronic respiratory illness and mental health, targeted to CHWs.

Chapters on diabetes and cancer have undergone field testing in 7 countries with over 60 CHWs and expert review with over 30 medical professionals. Field testing results show that this new content helps CHWs to identify and manage NCDs in their communities by providing applicable tools and information which will ultimately strengthen and extend the capacity of overburdened health systems. This content is part of the major revision of Hesperian’s classic primary care manual Where There Is No Doctor.