{"id":59495,"date":"2023-06-28T14:01:25","date_gmt":"2023-06-28T18:01:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.psi.org\/?p=59495"},"modified":"2024-07-22T11:13:26","modified_gmt":"2024-07-22T15:13:26","slug":"community-health-worker-in-niger-recognized-nationally-and-internationally-for-providing-health-services-to-her-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.psi.org\/pt\/2023\/06\/community-health-worker-in-niger-recognized-nationally-and-internationally-for-providing-health-services-to-her-community\/","title":{"rendered":"Community Health Worker Recognized Globally\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

This piece originally ran on impactmalaria.org<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I was deeply honored to be part of the celebratory moment! This was a great opportunity to recognize that our community health work is very important for Niger,\u201d Roukaya Saley Abdou proudly exclaimed ahead of a national celebration where she and a select few were recognized for their effort to go above-and-beyond providing essential health services in their communities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo caption: Roukaya Saley Abdou standing outside her house with materials in-hand ready to carry out an interpersonal communication activity, an important part of health education. Photo credit: Hamidine, PMI Impact Malaria <\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Roukaya lives and works in the Koirat\u00e9gui 2 Commune Rurale de Bengou of the Gaya Health District, Dosso region of Niger, with her husband and young child. Koirat\u00e9gui 2 is a close community, with approximately 600 members. In 2021 she attended a Village Assembly led by the regional health officials about the importance of quality, accessible healthcare for her community. Born and raised in the small community, Roukaya felt inspired by this mission to ensure her neighbors \u2013 many whom she has known her whole life \u2013 stay healthy.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the Village Assembly, she attended a 10-day training supported by the Niger National Malaria Program and the U.S. President\u2019s Malaria Initiative (PMI) Impact Malaria project to become a community health worker supporting the integrated community case management (iCCM) strategy in the Gaya Health District. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each year, millions of young children are at risk from deadly but preventable diseases. Most of these children live in sub-Saharan Africa or Central and Southern Asia, and often they are experiencing more than one illness at the same time. These children do not always have reliable access to healthcare services. To address these challenges, the World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has recommended Integrated Community Case Management (iCCM) as a strategy to extend quality of care to children living in remote and hard-to-reach populations with a focus on pneumonia, diarrhea and malaria, as well as malnutrition. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through the iCCM strategy, community health workers like Roukaya provide integrated health care services that overlap across common illnesses in young children so they can be tested and treated for multiple health risks within a single visit. These diseases can be deadly for young children and often present with similar symptoms, such as fever. It is important to test and treat children quickly if they are showing symptoms to ensure they have the best chance of recovery. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have personally visited 119 households within Koirat\u00e9gui 2. My health services are well known to the population, and there are even households in the nearby village of Alpha Koira who are outside of my designated health area that bring their children to my house for these important health services. Seeing how valuable this is for so many families greatly motivates me to continue this work,\u201d Roukaya shared. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo caption: Roukaya Saley Abdou (right in red) sits with Rachida Hamadou and son (25 months) outside her home to test for fever. Photo credit: Hamidine Moussa Idi, PMI Impact Malaria <\/em>
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Only a year into her work, Roukaya was identified among the highest performers in her area to represent the Dosso region at the first annual national community health worker day held by the Ministry of Health in Niger\u2019s capital, Niamey. Not only was she recognized as a stand-out health worker providing essential care for her community, but she received an award of 100,000 CFA francs (roughly $164 USD). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen the district chief informed me that I was one of the relays whose work was appreciated by the supervisors from the local, district, regional and central level, I was filled with great joy. To be recognized by the Ministry of Health at the national level is wonderful. Not only was this recognition fulfilling for me personally, but it allowed me to buy a sheep for my family.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then in March 2023, due to her national recognition, Roukaya was asked to represent her country and other health workers at a global forum celebrating community health workers held in Monrovia, Liberia. She shared that it was surreal for a \u201csmall town person\u201d to be alongside members of the national Ministry of Health, leadership from PMI and USAID, and Niger\u2019s PMI Impact Malaria team speaking at a global conference. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo caption: Roukaya (far right in brown) alongside the full Niger delegation to the International CHW Symposium in Liberia, March 19 to 24, 2023. Photo credit Dr. Oumarou Mahamadou, PMI Impact Malaria <\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

True to her recognition for going above-and-beyond for her neighbors, Roukaya serves many roles in her community and is committed to ensuring their health for a long time. \u201cI am in the departmental health insurance process, I participate in the activities of mass campaigns organized by the health district like seasonal malaria chemoprevention and Insecticide Treated Net Mass campaign. I also actively participate in the regular meetings organized by Health Committee under the leadership of the head of Health Facility manager in Bengu. I take great pride in these roles knowing I am helping others live healthy.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

PMI Impact Malaria supports the Niger Ministry of Health and National Malaria Program and 5 other partner countries (C\u00f4te D\u2019Ivoire, Cameroon, Malawi, Mali, and Rwanda) to implement iCCM activity which trains and equips community health workers like Roukaya to provide integrated health care to the children who need it most in their communities. All these countries have taken steps to integrate key aspects of the iCCM program into their primary health care program and their national systems to save young lives and PMI Impact Malaria is supporting 3 of these countries on improving the quality of these services<\/a> to align national guidelines and meet global recommendations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

PMI Impact Malaria is funded and technically assisted by the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) and is led by Population Services International (PSI)<\/a> in partnership with Jhpiego<\/a>, MCD Global Health<\/a>, and the Malaria Elimination Initiative (MEI)<\/a> at the University of California, San Francisco. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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