Abstract
BackgroundHealth social enterprises in Africa working with community health workers (CHWs) are growing rapidly but understudied. In particular, gender equality issues related to their work has important public health and equity implications.MethodsParticularly suited for generating timely findings from reviews at the intersection of overlapping disciplines, we utilized the rapid evidence assessment (REA) methodology to identify key unanswered research questions at the intersection of the fields of gender equality, social enterprises and community health workers. The REA used a series of structured Google Scholar searches, expert interviews and bibliography reviews to identify 57 articles in the academic and grey literatures that met the study inclusion criteria. Articles were thematically coded to identify answers to “What are the most important research questions about the influence of gender on CHWs working with health social enterprises in Africa?”ResultsThe analysis identified six key unanswered research questions relating to 1) equitable systems and structures; 2) training; 3) leadership development and career enhancement; 4) payment and incentives; 5) partner, household and community support; and 6) performance.ConclusionThis is the first study of its kind to identify the key unanswered research questions relevant to gender equality in health social enterprises in Africa using community health workers. As such, it sets out a research agenda for this newly emerging but rapidly developing area of research and practice with important public health implications.
Highlights
This paper was motivated by the increasing interdisciplinary convergence of three Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): Good Health and Well-Being (SDG 3), Gender Equality (SDG 5), and Partnerships for the Goals (SDG 17, which includes working with the private sector) as the convergence of these goals relates to social enterprises using community health workers (CHWs) in Africa
We chose the convergence of these three SDGs because of the their gender issues are increasingly important to health social enterprises utilizing CHWs in Africa
In Pakistan, it was found that 70 % of female CHWs reported the most common problem they faced was dealing with administrative inefficiencies, such as inconsistent medical supplies and irregular supply of vaccines; it was one of the main factors contributing to occupational stress and job dissatisfaction [16]
Summary
This paper was motivated by the increasing interdisciplinary convergence of three Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): Good Health and Well-Being (SDG 3), Gender Equality (SDG 5), and Partnerships for the Goals (SDG 17, which includes working with the private sector) as the convergence of these goals relates to social enterprises using community health workers (CHWs) in Africa. We chose the convergence of these three SDGs because of the their gender issues are increasingly important to health social enterprises utilizing CHWs in Africa. These areas are increasingly overlapping and converging in practice, no. Health social enterprises in Africa working with community health workers (CHWs) are growing rapidly but understudied. Gender equality issues related to their work has important public health and equity implications
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