The Effect of Health Sector Support on the Functional Status of Community Health Agents
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Date
1991-04
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
A comparative intervention study was conducted on
102 Community Health Agents (CRAs) in two Districts of
Illubabor Administrative Region, south-western Ethiopia.
The objective of the study was to look into the effect of
health sector support, particularly of a refresher course
and regular supervision, on the health service activities
of CRAs. A total of 102 CRAs who were performing at least
one activity specified in their job description were
divided into two groups and designated by the lottery
method as either intervention or control group.
Baseline input to enhance community involvement was
provided to both groups; a refresher course and monthly
regular supervision were provided to the intervention
group only. Both groups were followed for six
consecutive months to collect data on 13 health service
activities separately and as a composite, which
represented the functional status of the CRA. The
findings indicated that 60.7% of CRAs were initially
performing at least one health service activity. A group
x time analysis revealed that the composite functional
score and most of the 13 activities increased after time
o (TO) for CRAs in the intervention group but remained
stable or declined in the control group. The mean
composite score for intervention CRAs increased from
13.08 at time 0 (TO) to 19.26 at time 6 (T6); whereas forcontrol CRAs it declined from 12.17 at TO to 9.58 at T6.
The difference was attributed to the increase in health
sector support, which in turn also helped to maintain
community support.
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Keywords
Effect of Health Sector Support