Village health workers as health diplomats: negotiating health and study participation in a malaria elimination trial in The Gambia.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Although many success stories exist of Village Health Workers (VHWs) improving primary health care, critiques remain about the medicalisation of their roles in disease-specific interventions. VHWs are placed at the bottom of the health system hierarchy as cheap and low-skilled volunteers, irrespective of their highly valued social and political status within communities. In this paper, we shed light on the political role VHWs play and investigate how this shapes their social and medical roles, including their influence on community participation.

Method

The study was carried out within the context of a malaria elimination trial implemented in rural villages in the North Bank of The Gambia between 2016 and 2018. The trial aimed to reduce malaria prevalence by treat

SUBMITTER: Masunaga Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8753917 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature