By Peter Harrison | External Communications Coordinator
A Community Health Worker for ALL - Samuel Gbo-weh, Rivercess County
Over the last three months, Last Mile Health has driven forward the expansion of a Community Health Worker (CHW) program in remote Rivercess County, Liberia. Working in partnership since late 2014 in the midst of the Ebola crisis, Last Mile Health and the Liberia Ministry of Health’s Rivercess County Health Team (CHT) ensured that last mile communities were trained and equipped to protect themselves from the epidemic. Now, LMH and the Rivercess CHT are expanding access to lifesaving primary health services to even the most remote areas of the county by ensuring that all communities are served by a CHW.
As of January 2016, LMH has recruited over 200 CHWs and 30 CHW supervisors in two cohorts, achieving full coverage of every remote village in Rivercess County. By this time next year, both cohorts of CHWs and supervisors will have completed each of Last Mile Health’s four training modules: Community Engagement & Surveillance; Child Health; Reproductive, Maternal & Neonatal Health; and Adult Health.
The brief profile below introduces Samuel Gbo-weh, a CHW from Cohort One in Rivercess who recently completed Last Mile Health’s second training module in Child Health. Samuel is now fully trained and equipped to provide life-saving treatment for malaria, diarrhea, malnutrition, and acute respiratory infection to children under five in his community.
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In Jaye Town 1, a remote community in Rivercess County, Liberia, common diseases like malaria, diarrhea, and acute respiratory infections are often debilitating and life-threatening, especially for children under five. The nearest clinic is over an hour’s walk away, and few people in Jaye Town 1 can afford to pay for a motorbike taxi that would make the journey more bearable.
In the words of a Last Mile Health Community Clinical Supervisor, “People not served by the centralized health system are dying cheap deaths, of common things.”
In Jaye Town 1, CHW Samuel Gbo-weh completed Last Mile Health’s training module on Child Health in December 2015 and is now providing care in his community for young children with malaria, diarrhea, acute respiratory infection, and signs of malnutrition. Samuel’s supervisor, Albert Johnson, makes weekly visits to Jaye Town 1, during which time he assists Samuel with work planning, devising strategy for overcoming challenges, developing his caregiving skills.
Samuel’s dedication to the job and passion for serving in his community had an immediate impact close to home. In early January, just weeks after completing his training in Child Health, Samuel was able to successfully treat his nephew for malaria.
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Thank you for supporting Last Mile Health to train, equip, supervise, and pay Community Health Workers like Samuel. The care he and his fellow CHWs provide to their neighbors in underserved communities is helping to achieve justice in health for remote Liberians.
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