Gebremeskel, Akalewold T., Omonaiye, Olumuyiwa, and Yaya, Sanni (2022) Determinants of community health workers effectiveness for delivery of maternal and child health in Sub Saharan Africa: A Systematic review protocol. PLoS ONE, 17 (7). e0271528.

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Abstract

Background: Countries in sub-Sahara African continue to have the highest maternal and under- five child death occurrences in the world and this has become a key health challenge in the region and persists as global public health agenda. Although Community Health Workers (CHWs) are increasingly being acknowledged as crucial members of the healthcare workforce in reducing health disparity, evidence is limited on perspective of community health workers. The objective of this protocol is to outline the methodological process of a systematic review that will gather qualitative data to examine determinants of community health workers effectiveness for delivery of maternal and child health in Sub Saharan Africa. Synthesizing the perspectives of community health workers’ perceived experience is crucial to inform decision makers, policy makers, and practitioners to address barriers to and scaleup facilitators of CHWs program to ensure maternal and child health equity and a resilience community health system.

Methods: The protocol has been registered in the PROSPERO (CRD42020206874). We will systematically conduct a literature search from inception in MEDLINE complete, EMBASE, CINAHL complete and Global Health for relevant studies. Eligible studies will be reports of original research, peer reviewed articles having a qualitative component (i.e., qualitative, mixed, or multi-method studies) on empowerment of CHWs associated with maternal and child health in the sub-Saharan Africa. Eligibility will be restricted to studies published in English. Two reviewers will independently screen all included abstracts and full-text articles. The primary outcome will be CHWs’ perceived barriers to and facilitators of effectiveness of community health workers in maternal and child health in sub-Saharan Africa. Study methodological quality (or bias) will be appraised using appropriate tools. Narrative analysis will be conducted, and narrative summary of findings will be presented. We will use the ‘best fit’ framework method as a systematic approach to analyzing the qualitative data.

Discussion: This study will systematically and comprehensively search literature and integrate evidence on perceived barriers to and facilitators of effectiveness of community health workers led maternal and child health program in sub-Saharan Africa. Our findings will inform policy and practice on maternal and child health equity and a resilient communities health system. The resulting manuscript will be disseminated in a peer-reviewed journal and at international and national conferences.

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