Summary & Key Points
"It is within the framework of the "PROXISANTE project: Community Health Workers (CHW). Strengthening a proximity strategy in rural areas" that a delegation from the PAC-CI Program, led by its Executive Director, Dr. Moh..."
As part of the “PROXISANTE Project: Community Health Workers (CHWs). Strengthening a Proximity Strategy in Rural Areas,” a delegation from the PAC-CI Programme led by its Executive Director, Dr. Moh, visited the Lakes District from February 26 to 28, 2024. The delegation met with administrative authorities, the district director, community leaders from the localities of Toumodi, Djékanou, Kpouebo, and Kokoumbo, and the CHWs.
The PROXISANTE Project’s main objective is to develop and implement strategies to improve the integration of HIV, malaria, and tuberculosis prevention and care into the community-level health system through Community Health Workers.
Before the meeting, the team—also including Dr. Bangali, the Project Lead, and Dr. Msellati—visited the administrative authorities of Toumodi, Djékanou, and Kpouebo, the localities where the project was implemented. The purpose of these visits was primarily to introduce the team to the prefectural leadership and outline the terms of reference for the debriefing meeting.
During the meeting, participants discussed the presentation of activity results, an assessment of the study’s objectives, and highlighted the strengths and challenges of implementation to inform future national scale-up.
Group photo of the prefectural leadership, the PAC-CI Programme delegation, the CHWs, and members of the EPE NGO
In addition to the activity results presented by the Lakes District, the CHWs, and the EPE NGO coordinator, project beneficiaries shared testimonials about the positive impact on their daily lives. Overall, the project was well received by the populations in these localities, facilitating home-based care by the CHWs. Indeed, they not only provided HIV counseling and testing but also enabled early treatment of many cases of childhood malaria through the PROXISANTE Project, thereby preventing severe malaria. However, as Dr. Bangali noted, more efforts are still needed in tuberculosis control in these areas.
At the end of the meeting, the Regional Prefect expressed satisfaction with the results presented and encouraged the district health director to utilize the CHWs, given the skills they have acquired in the field.
Far from concluding with these satisfactory results, the next steps for this project will focus on promoting the project’s findings and sharing them with national stakeholders and partners.
Finally, it is important to emphasize that health needs in Côte d’Ivoire, particularly in decentralized areas, remain significant, while the supply of care is still insufficient. For Dr. Bangali, initiatives like this one provide an opportunity for the PAC-CI Programme, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, Public Hygiene, and Universal Health Coverage (MSHPCMU), to operationalize the results of studies conducted by the Programme and to develop further research on other topics in these areas.
