BULAWAYO City Council (BCC) says the city has a serious shortage of community health workers.
According to latest council minutes, health services director Edwin Sibanda said the city had fewer than the Health and Child Care ministry mandated one community health worker for every 100 households.
“Currently, the city is covered by 160 community health workers, instead of 260. Some vast areas are not covered by any health workers. This results in the communities not accessing some services,” the minutes read.
This represents a 38% shortfall.
According to the minutes, the Health and Child Care ministry, through support from the United Nations Children’s Fund, availed support to train 120 community health workers.
“Health services department would train the community health workers in a three-week course. Health services department is kindly requesting volunteers who are willing to service the community.”
The training is open to individuals aged between 18 and 45 years who speak local languages.
“In response, the director for health services, Edwin Sibanda, explained that the recruitment age was determined by the programme funders and other stakeholders,” the minutes read.
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“Community health work is now demanding. There is also need to train community health workers in information communication technology.”
