Contribution of community health workers to primary health care performance in Brazil

• Published in: Revista de saúde pública Vol. 54; p. 143
• Main Authors: Santos, Alaneir de Fátima Dos, Rocha, Hugo André da, Lima, Ângela Maria de Lourdes Dayrell de, Abreu, Daisy Maria Xavier de, Silva, Érica Araújo, Araújo, Lucas Henrique Lobato de, Cavalcante, Isabela Cristina Carreiro, Matta-Machado, Antônio Thomaz Gonzaga da
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Brazil Faculdade de Saúde Pública da Universidade de São Paulo 01.01.2020; Universidade de São Paulo
• Subjects: Brazil; Community Health Workers; Cross-Sectional Studies; Health Policy & Services; Health Services Research; Humans; Original; Primary Health Care; Primary Health Care - organization & administration; Brazil; Brazil; Primary Health Care; Community Health Workers; Health Services Research
• ISSN: 0034-8910; 1518-8787; 1518-8787
• DOI: 10.11606/s1518-8787.2020054002327

To associate the strength of community health workers interventions with primary health care strategies for women's and children's health, diabetes, and hypertension. This is a cross-sectional study assessing 29,778 family health teams working in primary health care in Brazil in 2014. The association between community health workers activity levels and primary health care facilities was analyzed using multiple logistic regression. We found higher levels of community health workers activities strongly associated with primary health care practices (OR = 6.88) for those activities targeting hypertension management, followed by children's health (OR = 6.56), and women's health (OR = 6.21). At a time when Brazil discusses whether community health workers should or should not remain in the same scale-up and skill level as they currently are, our results reinforce the importance of these workers for the care model advocated by the Brazilian Unified Health System.