Survey of community health aides in Jamaica (1987-1988)

The Community Health Aide (CHA) programme was initiated in 1967, and, by the early 1980s, 1,328 CHAs had been trained and over 1,100 remained in the service. The aim of the programme was to train CHAs to assist in the delivery of basic health care. During the restructuring of the health services in 1985-1986, many CHAs were made redundant. As part of a large study aimed at assessing the current status of the CHA programme, this paper reports results of interviews with 415 CHAs still in service in 1987-1988 and 134 CHAs no longer employed in the programme at that time. The survey of CHAs still employed as such showed that they continued to perform duties in the community and in health centres with emphasis on the maternal and child health services and the management of diabetics and hypertensives. The survey of CHAs no longer employed as such showed that the majority remained unemployed through many continued to use their skills on a voluntary basis. These CHAs felt that home visiting had been reduced and environmental health was being neglected since they left, and that problems were not being regularly reported to the professionals at the health centres. It was recommended that all CHAs be offered training in the taking of blood pressure levels and in the giving of insulin injections to diabetics. Recommendations included improved methods of selection, longer training, greater community outreach, especially to the elderly, post-training evaluation, regular assessment of the CHAs' performance, and improved upward mobility opportunities and job security.