MRC PhD student

Level of study: PhD

Title of Research Project: Community Health Workers and Home/Community Based Carers in South Africa: A Gendered Policy Analysis

Study Institution: Nordic School of Public Health

Research Question
Over the past decade the South African health system has been through a process of reform including policy reform.  Within this context, policy has been developed that guides the implementation of lay/ community health workers into the health system.  Amongst other complexities, community health work holds particular gendered challenges for its incumbents.  Often these workers are poor women, already burdened with the responsibilities for their own households.  Attention to gender is often a missing dimension in policy reform here and internationally, with little understanding of the different ways in which the policy will impact on men and women. In recognition of these challenges this qualitative study uses a gender lens to focus on policy and implementation of interventions utilising community health workers in South Africa.

Project Summary
This thesis is divided into four sub studies.  From a gender perspective it investigates the utilisation of community health workers and home/community based carers in South Africa by:

• analysing key policy documents and interviewing key actors and institutions that participated in the policy development process (Study 1)
• exploring how the utilisation of the community health workers and home/community based carers is implemented (Study 2)
• exploring the self-reported experiences of actively functioning farm community health workers (Study 3 published)
• exploring the lived experience of being employed as a community health worker in an intervention for the Prevention of Mother-to-Child HIV Transmission (Study 4).

Mentors: Dr. Mickey Chopra (MRC), Prof Karin Ringsberg (NHV), Dr. Marina Clarke (NHV/ CPUT)
Support: MRC/DST Professional Development Programme (PDP)
MRC Unit: Health Systems Research