Integrating community health volunteers into non-communicable disease management among Syrian refugees in Jordan
This article outlines a workshop where participants identified and mapped how CHVs might improve care among diagnosed patients
Abstract
There is emerging evidence on the use of community health workers and volunteers (CHVs) in lower-income settings for the management of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), but less on their role in humanitarian settings. IRC and partners are investigating a community health worker-based model for NCD care for Syrian refugees in Jordan.
This article outlines a participatory, multi-stakeholder causal loop analysis workshop where participants identified and mapped how CHVs might improve care among diagnosed patients. Possibilities included: providing psychosocial support and foundational education on their conditions, strengthening self-management of complications, and monitoring patients for adherence to medications and collection of basic health monitoring data. CHV programmes were cited as a key to secondary prevention of morbidity and mortality among Syrian refugees.
This research was supported by the Research for Health in Humanitarian Crises (R2HC) Programme
Citation
Parmar PK, Rawashdah F, Al-Ali N, et al. Integrating community health volunteers into noncommunicable disease management among Syrian refugees in Jordan: a causal loop analysis. BMJ Open 2021;11:e045455. doi:10.1136/ bmjopen-2020-045455