Bridging the gaps in Primary Care through Community Health Workers in Batticaloa district

Rural Health Development Project

Project lead: Dr. S. Kumaran
Implementation officer: Dr. Mrs. N. Shobana

Executive summary

The rural health development project underscores the invaluable contributions of the International Medical Health Organization through the Center of Digital Epidemiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Jaffna, which aims to address critical healthcare disparities in Batticaloa District through Community Health Workers (CHWs).

With a severe shortage of primary care providers in the Eastern Province, accessibility to healthcare is hindered, exacerbated by the prevalence of chronic conditions such as diabetes and heart disease. To bridge this gap, the project proposes to empower local community members as CHWs to facilitate routine primary healthcare services effectively. Implemented across Batticaloa district, the project included training and deploying CHWs to engage with the community, aiding with routine procedures, and supporting administrative functions.

By enhancing access to primary care and empowering local communities, 05 CHWs were appointed and were engaged with a local public medical camp, school health promotion and life skills development program, and mothers’ supportive group engagement and involvement program.

Project Activities

a

Identifying and training the CHWs

Five members of Mother support groups of were selected through an interview proceeded by the FOM, UOJ board on 25th of November 2024. They are appointed as Community health Workers since 17th of January 2025. On-the-job training and capacity building program started since then. Each of them are assigned to the relevant Public Health Midwives of Batticaloa MOH area and they assist PHMs in their routine clinical activities on weekdays. Every Saturday capacity building is conducted with the support of staffs from the University of Jaffna and Faculty of Health-Care Sciences, Eastern University, Sri Lanka.

Following are the activities underscored in training:

 Activities undertaken with the Public Health Midwife:
• Office Record Keeping: Recording office registers monitoring the height and weight of
children and adolescents.
• Maternal Care: Assessing the height and weight of pregnant mothers and providing
nutritional supplements like Thriposha.
• Well Women Clinic Services: Conducting height, weight, blood pressure (BP), and random
blood sugar (RBS) assessments for women.
• Field Visits: Undertaking field visits for pregnancy, post-partum, Adverse Event Following
Immunization (AEF) visits, and family planning.

b

Engaging CHWs with Local public

  • Engage with Mother’s Supportive Group (MSG) income generation activities.
  • Conducting health camps and awareness programs in the community
  • Conducting school health promotion & life skill development programs in the community.
c

Monitoring and evaluation

Field coordinators initiated observational visits and qualitative discussions with care providers (PHM and MOH) from April 2025. Also, routine data from engagement activities with the local public were recorded and stored. The activity summary is illustrated in the following table.