Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Community Health Volunteers Challenges And Preferred Income Generating Activities For Sustainability: A Qualitative Case Study Of Rural Kilifi, Kenya, Adelaide Lusambili, Njeri Nyanja, Sophie Vusha Chabeda, Marleen Temmerman, Lucy Nyaga, Jerim Obure, Anthony Ngugi

Population Health, East Africa

Background: There is a global emphasis on engaging community health volunteers (CHVs) in low- to middle-income countries (LMICs) to reach to the vast underserved populations that live in rural areas. Retention of CHVs in most countries has however been difficult and turnover in many settings has been reported to be high with profound negative effects on continuity of community health services. In rural Kenya, high attrition among CHVs remains a concern. Understanding challenges faced by CHVs in rural settings and how to reduce attrition rates with sustainable income-generating activities (IGAs) is key to informing the implementation of contextual measures that …