The pandemic has increased the burden of care on Africa’s community health workers (CHWs) that are serving both at the frontlines and at the last mile without adequate provisions. Community health workers were not initially considered or prepared to safely aid in several countries’ COVID-19 responses even though they play a central role in African health care systems. Because CHWs are often volunteers and lack the necessary PPE, countries prioritized other cadres of health care workers in their national COVID-19 responses. However, we must protect CHWs by providing PPE to continue the ongoing fight against COVID-19.
The COVID-induced personal protective equipment (PPE) shortage affects all health workers but impacts low- and middle-income countries and community health workers in particular. When the COVID-19 pandemic began, nationwide lockdowns and travel restrictions forced community health workers to become frontline health service providers because they were proximate and accessible to community members in need of medical attention. However, CHWs were not, and are still not, adequately protected to move around comfortably and do their jobs without the fear of being exposed or contaminating an entire village.
Many national responses also did not account for the resources they could gain from community health workers and the roles they play in their communities. CHWs could have been key for contact tracing and active surveillance early in the pandemic. Instead, many CHWs were left without adequate PPE and could not perform their essential duties safely. Now CHWs are forced to continue providing care while also helping fight against COVID-19, increasing their burdens and exposing them to unsafe environments.
Read stories from the frontlines highlighting the reality of what it’s like being a CHW during the pandemic here.