Vol. 2008 No. 1 (2008)
Expanding Community Health Worker Roles in Malaria Prevention and Treatment Among Children in Zanzibar, Tanzania
Abstract
Malaria remains a significant public health challenge in Zanzibar, Tanzania, where community health workers (CHWs) play a crucial role in disease prevention and treatment among children. A participatory action research approach was employed, involving community consultations, training workshops for CHWs, and monitoring and evaluation through standardised questionnaires. CHWs reported increased effectiveness in educating families about mosquito repellent use (95% adherence rate) and early symptom recognition leading to timely treatment (80% of cases treated within 24 hours). The expanded role of CHWs significantly improved malaria prevention and treatment outcomes among children. Continued training and support for CHWs are recommended to maintain these improvements in service delivery effectiveness. Malaria, Community Health Workers, Zanzibar, Tanzania Treatment effect was estimated with $\text{logit}(p_i)=\beta_0+\beta^\top X_i$, and uncertainty reported using confidence-interval based inference.