Determinants of Community Health Agent Functionality in Arsi Region.
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Date
1989-05
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Addis Abeba Universty
Abstract
A comparative case-control study to asses s the determinants of community health agent functionality as done in two Ars Awrajas, in mid-southern Ethiopia. This was a census study which has conducted by interviewing 347 CHAs from a structured questionnaire. The first objective was to describe the situation of the CHAs trained for the two Awrajas up to the end of 1987. The other objective was to elucidate the determinants of CHA functionality by comparing the attributes of the functional CHAs (cases) with that of the non-functional ones(controls). An attempt was made to elucidate the determinants of these attributes. The findings revealed that only 25.8% of the CHAs interviewed were performing 50% or more of the activities mentioned in their job description. 45.6% of the CHAs were found to be performing no activities at the time of the interview, i.e. a point prevalence of attrition rate of 45%. Comparing cases and controls showed that there was strong associations between CHA function and community support for the CHAs(RR = 72.4 with 95% CI 35 - 153). The other factor which was seen to be associated with function was supervision by health institutions (Odds of being functional when supervised being 28 with 95% CI of 15 - 53). Other factors which were found to be positively related to CHA functionality were: presence of health post, provision of drugs and stationary to the CHA, and establishment of an active health committee with the CHA being an executive member .These findings emphasize the importance of the provision of proper community and heaIth system support for the success of the community health services program.
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Community Health Agent