Female health workers increased use of health services in rural areas

Areas of northern Nigeria where female community health extension workers were deployed saw significant hikes in women's health service use, according to a study from New York-based Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health.

The pilot study observed the effects deploying female health workers across northern Nigeria in rural areas had on healthcare utilization. Health service use, including post-birth care and facility-based deliveries, saw significant and sustained increases, according to a news release.

Visits to health posts increased 500 percent from the previous year, concentrated in the preventative efforts rather than efforts to control an existing condition. The increase stayed stable over a two year period, according to the news release.

Providing a rural residence allowance in addition to a standard salary helped recruit and retain female workers as well, the researchers found. Other factors contributing to success were posting workers in pairs to prevent isolation, ensuring supplies and transportation means for home visits and allowing workers to perform deliveries, according to the news release.

"Our pilot study led to the major improvements in health impacts reported over the course of seven years," said Alastair Ager, Ph.D., a professor of population and family health at Columbia University who supported the program over a seven-year period. "The grassroots operation undertaken in this environment and described here were key to the progress we are seeing to date."

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