Document Type
Report
Publication Date
2018
Abstract
Front-line health workers (FLHWs) are expected to perform necessary maternal, newborn, and child (MNCH) services appropriately and effectively; however, few studies have investigated the extent to which FLHWs perform requisite primary health care (PHC) services. This study seeks to better understand not only FLHWs’ knowledge and performance of MNCH services, but the factors promoting and inhibiting their services in selected rural local government areas of Nigeria’s Bauchi and Cross River states. It also investigates the potential for a new PHC worker cadre, soliciting stakeholders’ perceptions about its feasibility for addressing maternal and newborn disease burdens in rural communities. The study’s findings show a shortage of all FLHW cadres—and for nurses and midwives, this shortage is critical—as well as insufficient equipment and materials required for FLHWs’ quality MNCH services, inadequate knowledge of critical MNCH issues, and poor staff welfare. The report details the urgent actions needed to strengthen human resources for health in rural communities in Nigeria.
Recommended Citation
Oladepo, Oladimeji, Ekechi Okereke, and Akinwumi Akinola. 2018. "The rationale and relevance of existing cadres of frontline health workers and potential for new mid-level cadres," Human Resources for Health Project. Abuja: Population Council.
DOI
10.31899/rh6.1035
Language
English
Project
Enhancing the Ability of Frontline Health Workers to Improve Health in Nigeria
Included in
Community-Based Learning Commons, Demography, Population, and Ecology Commons, Family, Life Course, and Society Commons, International Public Health Commons