Email this article 
Hide
Show all
Original Research
Factors associated with retention of community health workers in maternal, newborn and child health programme in Simiyu Region, Tanzania
Submitted: 14 May 2017 | Published: 02 August 2018
About the author(s)
David P. Ngilangwa, Amref Health Africa, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, United Republic ofGeorge S. Mgomella, Department of Public Health and Primary Care, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
Abstract
Background: Attrition of community health workers (CHWs) continues to threaten the full realisation and sustainability of community-based health programmes globally.
Aim: This study aimed to understand factors associated with CHWs’ recruitment and their retention.
Setting: This study was conducted in five districts of the Simiyu Region, namely, Bariadi, Busega, Itilima, Maswa and Meatu in north-western Tanzania.
Methods: In this cross-sectional study design, 341 CHWs who were working with the maternal health programme were randomly selected. Semi-structured questionnaires were administered to all participants. Data were descriptively and inferentially analysed using SPSS version 20.
Results: Majority (58.0%) of CHWs were below 35 years. Over half (53.1%) had completed primary education only. Motivation factors for being CHW were aspiration to serve the community and desire for further training to become a qualified medical practitioner. Community recognition and financial incentives were among the key retention reasons for the CHWs. Being married (odds ratio [OR] 5.9, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.7–20.1) having prior volunteer experience (OR 10.5 95% CI 12.7–40.5) and prior employment OR 21.8 (CI 12.2–38.9) were positively associated with retention of CHWs, while being a female was negatively associated with retention OR 0.4 (CI 0.2–0.8).
Conclusions: Both financial and non-financial incentives were critical in contributing to the retention of CHWs. Thus, health programmes should carefully select CHWs by understanding their motives beforehand, and provide them with incentives.
Keywords
Metrics
Total abstract views: 5116Total article views: 6357
Crossref Citations
1. Female community health volunteers’ experience in navigating social context while providing basic diabetes services in western Nepal: Social capital and beyond from systems thinking
Usha Dahal, Rekha Lama Tamang, Tania Aase Dræbel, Dinesh Neupane, Sweta Koirala Adhikari, Pabitra Babu Soti, Bishal Gyawali, Hanna Nalecz
PLOS Global Public Health vol: 3 issue: 11 first page: e0002632 year: 2023
doi: 10.1371/journal.pgph.0002632
2. Use of Mobile Health (mHealth) Technologies and Interventions Among Community Health Workers Globally: A Scoping Review
Jody Early, Carmen Gonzalez, Vanessa Gordon-Dseagu, Laura Robles-Calderon
Health Promotion Practice vol: 20 issue: 6 first page: 805 year: 2019
doi: 10.1177/1524839919855391
3. Job satisfaction and turnover of the first group of rural-oriented tuition-waived medical students in Guangxi, China: a mixed-method study
Wenxu Chen, Wenjia Xu, Yanhua Chen, Chengying Xu, Jiahui Zheng, Yunfeng Zou, Bo Zhou
BMC Primary Care vol: 25 issue: 1 year: 2024
doi: 10.1186/s12875-024-02486-2
4. A novel approach to frontline health worker support: a case study in increasing social power among private, fee-for-service birthing attendants in rural Bangladesh
Dora Curry, Md. Ahsanul Islam, Bidhan Krishna Sarker, Anne Laterra, Ikhtiar Khandaker
Human Resources for Health vol: 21 issue: 1 year: 2023
doi: 10.1186/s12960-022-00773-6
5. “My motivation was to save”: a qualitative study exploring factors influencing motivation of community healthcare workers in a cervical cancer screening program in Dschang, Cameroon
Pauline Hämmerli, Alida Datchoua Moukam, Ania Wisniak, Jessica Sormani, Pierre Vassilakos, Bruno Kenfack, Patrick Petignat, Nicole Christine Schmidt
Reproductive Health vol: 19 issue: 1 year: 2022
doi: 10.1186/s12978-022-01420-y
6. Working conditions and perception on incentives of Fiji community health workers: findings from a survey with a convenience sample in 2016
Chang-gyo Yoon, Arieta Latianara, Wayne Irava, Eugenia Lee, Kunhee Park
Journal of Global Health Science vol: 1 year: 2019
doi: 10.35500/jghs.2019.1.e8
7. Why lockdown? Why national unity? Why global solidarity? Simplified arithmetic tools for decision-makers, health professionals, journalists and the general public to explore containment options for the 2019 novel coronavirus
Gerry F. Killeen, Samson S. Kiware
Infectious Disease Modelling vol: 5 first page: 442 year: 2020
doi: 10.1016/j.idm.2020.06.006
8. Community health worker motivation to perform systematic household contact tuberculosis investigation in a high burden metropolitan district in South Africa
Gladys Kigozi, Christo Heunis, Michelle Engelbrecht
BMC Health Services Research vol: 20 issue: 1 year: 2020
doi: 10.1186/s12913-020-05612-9
9. Factors associated with retention of health workers in remote public health centers in Northern Uganda: a cross-sectional study
Andrew Twineamatsiko, Nathan Mugenyi, Yvonne Nabachwa Kuteesa, Ejalu David Livingstone
Human Resources for Health vol: 21 issue: 1 year: 2023
doi: 10.1186/s12960-023-00870-0
10. Reviewing the availability and integration of community health information system for HIV/AIDS in Lesotho
Maseabata M. Ramathebane, Lineo J. Maja, Mosala Lets’olo, Sello Monts’i
Journal of the Colleges of Medicine of South Africa vol: 2 issue: 1 year: 2024
doi: 10.4102/jcmsa.v2i1.3
11. Task-shifting directly observed treatment and multidrug-resistant tuberculosis injection administration to lay health workers: stakeholder perceptions in rural Eswatini
Ernest Peresu, J. Christo Heunis, N. Gladys Kigozi, Diana De Graeve
Human Resources for Health vol: 18 issue: 1 year: 2020
doi: 10.1186/s12960-020-00541-4
12. Equity for health delivery: Opportunity costs and benefits among Community Health Workers in Rwanda
Janna M. Schurer, Kelly Fowler, Ellen Rafferty, Ornella Masimbi, Jean Muhire, Olivia Rozanski, Hellen J. Amuguni, Joseph Telfair
PLOS ONE vol: 15 issue: 9 first page: e0236255 year: 2020
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0236255
13. Application of the Ultra-Poverty Graduation Model in understanding community health volunteers’ preferences for socio-economic empowerment strategies to enhance retention: a qualitative study in Kilifi, Kenya
Njeri Nyanja, Nelson Nyamu, Lucy Nyaga, Sophie Chabeda, Adelaide Lusambili, Marleen Temmerman, Michaela Mantel, Anthony Ngugi
Human Resources for Health vol: 19 issue: 1 year: 2021
doi: 10.1186/s12960-021-00645-5
14. Barriers and facilitators of rendering HIV services by community health workers in sub-Saharan Africa: a meta-synthesis protocol
Gugulethu Eve Khumalo, Elizabeth Lutge, Praba Naidoo, Tivani Phosa Mashamba-Thompson
BMJ Open vol: 10 issue: 10 first page: e037876 year: 2020
doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2020-037876
15. Community-Based Hearing and Vision Screening in Schools in Low-Income Communities Using Mobile Health Technologies
Michelle Manus, Jeannie van der Linde, Hannah Kuper, Renate Olinger, De Wet Swanepoel
Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools vol: 52 issue: 2 first page: 568 year: 2021
doi: 10.1044/2020_LSHSS-20-00089
16. The role of gender power relations on women’s health outcomes: evidence from a maternal health coverage survey in Simiyu region, Tanzania
Henri M. Garrison-Desany, Emily Wilson, Melinda Munos, Talata Sawadogo-Lewis, Abdoulaye Maïga, Onome Ako, Serafina Mkuwa, Amy J. Hobbs, Rosemary Morgan
BMC Public Health vol: 21 issue: 1 year: 2021
doi: 10.1186/s12889-021-10972-w