health workers Archives - Rural Health Collaborative

Growing the Community Health Worker Force

I think a lot of people intuitively believe that training Community Health Workers is a good thing to do. Why not train (usually) women to provide basic health promotion and care to their communities, especially when those communities are rural and have poor access to health care? It makes sense. And the model is being…

Reflections from a Newbie

I have been in Ghana for just 7 days, but already I know a significant shift has occurred in my life. While I have been with the RHC for about 3 years, this is my first trip to Ghana to meet the Kekeli women and hear first hand about the impact these women are making…

Between trips: what goes on when we’re away?

Most of our public focus surrounds the trips we take to Ghana about twice per year. The last was in December and the next will be this coming August. The bulk of our new trainings happen on these trips, where the women spend one or two weeks in full day sessions learning the material they…

The Meetings Go On

Despite our silence from time to time on our RHC Blog, the work does go on. Recently, on March 14th, the Kekeli women came together for their first training of 2014. They discussed the importance of vaccination, pneumonia prevention, and blood pressure management. We are also welcoming a new Kekeli woman into our group. Replacing…

Reducing Maternal Mortality through Home Based Life Saving Skills Course

Home Based Life Saving Skills (HBLSS) is an educational program that trains birth attendants, community health workers, and community members in specific actions aimed at reducing maternal and neonatal mortality. The program has been studied in several developing countries where it has been effectively disseminated and has been shown to increase actions to prevent hemorrhage…

We’re back!

The RHC is back and ready for action! The entire team is now in the continental U.S. and we had our first meeting since the trip this past weekend. The Kekeli women are putting us to shame as they have met twice since our trip. They went straight to teaching their communities within the week…

Tiyatien Health – A model that moves and inspires

I came across an organization today that inspired me. It’s called Tiyatien Health and it is based in Liberia. Formed in response to the death of 12 women suffering from AIDS in a rural village in Liberia, it has moved mountains to train local people to be health workers and bring care to those in…

August Kekeli Meeting Pictures

This past week 15 out of 20 Kekeli women met for their bi-monthly meeting. They learned about family planning methods and available access to various options. Check out the photos below which were taken at the meeting. More information is on its way about what the women have been working on in their villages. …

Payment for Health Workers

Something we at RDP have been batting around the last year or so is the issue of payment for health workers. As we embark upon our first official VHW training program, we will not be providing the new trainees with a monthly stipend. At this time the funds are not available and the job description…