Saku Foundation, 142 Prestige Ozone, Whitefield Main Road, Bangalore, 560066, India.
Department of Medicine, Mahavir Cancer Sansthan, Patna, India.
Bull World Health Organ. 2022 Feb 1;100(2):108-114. doi: 10.2471/BLT.21.286902. Epub 2021 Nov 25.
To report experiences in Bihar, India's most densely populated state, with a state government programme to train community health workers (CHWs) to combat the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in the state's predominantly rural population of 128 million.
In May 2021, during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in India, the Bihari government initiated a 1-day COVID-19 training programme for rural, unaccredited CHWs who had recently completed a community health education course from the National Institute of Open Schooling. The use of primary health centre buildings and doctors to deliver COVID-19 training and the existence of certification data on CHWs who participated in the community health education course streamlined implementation and minimized costs. After COVID-19 training, CHWs were paid as first responders and COVID-19 treatment workers by the Bihari government.
Overall, 15 000 CHWs in Bihar completed the COVID-19 training programme in 2021 and a further 30 000 were enrolled. A survey of CHWs carried out after COVID-19 training had started found that 80% (81/102) were satisfied with training and felt they were receiving information from reliable sources.
The training and mobilization of a team of CHWs helped ease pressure on a stressed, rural, health-care system in Bihar and improved its preparedness for future COVID-19 outbreaks. The success of the training programme illustrates how local initiatives can help address gaps in the health workforce and extend the reach of public health care into rural areas, in addition to improving COVID-19 responses.
报告印度人口最稠密的比哈尔邦（Bihar）在该邦培训社区卫生工作者（CHWs）以应对 2019 冠状病毒病（COVID-19）大流行方面的经验，该邦的农村人口有 1.28 亿，占总人口的绝大多数。
2021 年 5 月，正值印度第二波 COVID-19 疫情期间，比哈尔邦政府启动了一项为期 1 天的 COVID-19 培训计划，针对最近刚完成国家开放学校社区健康教育课程的农村、无证 CHWs。利用初级保健中心的建筑和医生提供 COVID-19 培训，以及关于参加社区健康教育课程的 CHWs 的认证数据，简化了实施过程并降低了成本。COVID-19 培训后，比哈尔邦政府向 CHWs 支付作为第一响应者和 COVID-19 治疗人员的工资。
2021 年，比哈尔邦共有 15000 名 CHWs 完成了 COVID-19 培训计划，另有 30000 名 CHWs 报名参加。在 COVID-19 培训开始后，对 CHWs 进行的一项调查发现，80%（81/102）的人对培训感到满意，并认为他们正在从可靠来源获得信息。
培训和动员一支 CHWs 队伍有助于缓解比哈尔邦紧张的农村医疗体系的压力，并提高其对未来 COVID-19 疫情爆发的准备能力。培训计划的成功表明，地方举措如何有助于弥补卫生人力方面的差距，并将公共医疗保健服务扩展到农村地区，同时还改善了 COVID-19 的应对措施。
