Centre of Tropical Medicine and Travel Medicine, Amsterdam University Medical Centres, Location AMC, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Action for Health and Development, Battambang Province, Battambong Municipality, Cambodia.
PLoS One. 2023 Sep 8;18(9):e0283405. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0283405. eCollection 2023.
Early access to correct diagnosis and appropriate treatment is essential for malaria elimination, and in Cambodia this relies on village malaria workers (VMWs). Decreasing malaria transmission leave VMWs with diminished roles. Activities related to the control of other health conditions could keep these community health workers relevant.
During 2022, 120 VMWs attended training at local health centres on four health education packages: 1. hygiene and sanitation; 2. disease surveillance; 3. management of mild illness; 4. vaccination and antenatal care. All training and evaluation sessions were documented through meeting minutes, and 19 focus group discussions (FGDs) were conducted among VMWs and health centre personnel. Audio-records of FGDs were transcribed and translated in English and underwent thematic analysis.
VMWs reported strong interest in the training and welcomed the expansion of their roles thus assuring their continued relevance. VMWs prioritized disease surveillance and management of mild illness among the available training packages because these topics were seen as most relevant. While training was considered comprehensible and important, the low literacy among VMWs was an impediment suggesting training materials need to be delivered visually. Since VMWs have limited resources, incentives could ensure that VMWs are motivated to undertake additional roles and responsibilities.
The transformation of VMWs into community health workers with roles beyond malaria is a promising approach for sustaining health care provision in remote areas. Training needs to consider the low scientific literacy, time constraints and limited resources of VMWs.
早期获得正确的诊断和适当的治疗对于消除疟疾至关重要，在柬埔寨，这依赖于乡村疟疾工作者（VMW）。疟疾传播的减少使得 VMW 的作用减弱。与控制其他健康状况相关的活动可以使这些社区卫生工作者保持相关性。
在 2022 年期间，120 名 VMW 在当地卫生中心接受了四项健康教育包的培训：1. 卫生和环境卫生；2. 疾病监测；3. 轻度疾病管理；4. 疫苗接种和产前保健。所有培训和评估课程都通过会议记录进行记录，并在 VMW 和卫生中心人员中进行了 19 次焦点小组讨论（FGD）。FGD 的音频记录被转录并翻译成英文，并进行了主题分析。
VMW 对培训表现出浓厚的兴趣，并欢迎扩大其角色，从而确保其持续相关性。VMW 优先考虑疾病监测和轻度疾病管理，因为这些主题被认为最相关。虽然培训被认为是可以理解的和重要的，但 VMW 的低识字率是一个障碍，表明培训材料需要以视觉方式提供。由于 VMW 资源有限，激励措施可以确保 VMW 有动力承担额外的角色和责任。
将 VMW 转变为具有疟疾以外角色的社区卫生工作者是维持偏远地区医疗保健提供的有前途的方法。培训需要考虑 VMW 的低科学素养、时间限制和有限的资源。
