Community level workers: awareness generation for improving children's health

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Child Health Interventions
• Community Health Programs

Background:

• Government of India provides routine immunization and Vitamin A supplementation to reduce child mortality.
• Community Level Workers (CLWs), including Auxiliary Nurse Midwives, Anganwadi Workers, and Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs), are key to service delivery.
• CLWs are responsible for raising awareness and demand for these vital child health services.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the knowledge and participation of CLWs in generating awareness about immunization and Vitamin A supplementation.
• To evaluate mothers' knowledge regarding these two crucial child health services.
• To understand the link between CLW engagement and maternal awareness.

Main Methods:

• A mixed-methods study was conducted in 16 villages in Udaipur district, Rajasthan.
• Data collection involved observations of health and nutrition days, and surveys of 46 CLWs and 321 mothers.
• Multistage purposive sampling was employed for study area and participant selection.

Main Results:

• Community Level Workers demonstrated limited knowledge regarding immunization and Vitamin A supplementation.
• Low participation of CLWs in awareness generation activities was observed.
• Mothers exhibited poor knowledge about immunization and Vitamin A supplementation, correlating with CLW engagement levels.

Conclusions:

• The findings suggest a potential explanation for suboptimal child immunization rates in Rajasthan.
• Enhancing CLW knowledge and engagement in awareness campaigns is critical for improving service uptake.
• Healthcare systems must prioritize initiatives to boost CLW capacity and participation to improve immunization coverage.