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Home / Working Groups / IMCI / Element Two
| Promoting Community Case Management
Element Two: Increasing appropriate and accessible health care and information from community-based providers
In many places health facilities are not accessible or are not the first choice in community level care for ill children. Often caretakers seek immediate care from community health workers or other voluntary workers, private providers, traditional healers, traditional birth attendants, shopkeepers and pharmacists - those who enjoy community prestige and are the closest providers of care. In many programs, CHWs are trained to provide basic curative care where other sources of care are not accessible. Interventions are needed to:
- Improve the treatment of sick children (by upgrading the skills of community-based practitioners, and/or using simplified algorithms for case management, and ensuring supply of essential drugs at the community level).
- Improve referral of sick children from the community-based providers to the first level facility through feedback loops among community-based private providers, facility-based providers, and communities. Communities can help in the establishment of community-based emergency transport systems, community revolving funds, or insurance schemes for health emergencies.
- Decrease harmful practices such as frequent use of injections, unsafe treatments, over-prescription of antimicrobials and antibiotics by private providers.
- Increase the role of community-based providers in the promotion of preventive practices (ex. handwashing, condoms)
CORE is working on a guide for program managers on implementing community case management. Draft chapters and additional resources will be posted on this site in the near future.
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© CORE Group/2008
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