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Table 1 Health topics discussed in the included reviews

From: What do we know about community-based health worker programs? A systematic review of existing reviews on community health workers

Focal health issue Regional focus of studies included in the review
LMICs HICs LMICs and HICs Total
System-level/multiple/general
• Multiple primary health care interventions 14 1 0 15
• Health system* 7 3 0 10
• Underserved groups (e.g., Latinos in the USA) 0 7 0 7
• CHW rights/well-being 3 0 0 3
Maternal and child health
• Child/neonatal health 13 1 0 14
• Maternal and child/neonatal health 14 0 1 15
• Vaccination 4 0 1 5
• Maternal health** 3 1 0 4
• Contraception 3 0 0 3
• Breastfeeding 0 1 1 2
Disease-specific: non-communicable
• Diabetes 0 5 0 5
• Cancer 1 3 0 4
• Mental health**, # 4 2 0 6
• Other (pediatric chronic disease#, vascular disease, hypertension) 1 2 2 5
Disease-specific: infectious
• HIV# 6 0 4 10
• Malaria 6 0 0 6
• Other infection (Buruli ulcer, tuberculosis, hepatitis B and C, neglected tropical disease) 3 1 0 4
Other (adolescent health, palliative care, physical activity promotion) 1 2 1## 4
Total 83 29 10 122
  1. LMIC low- and middle-income country, HIC high-income country
  2. *CHW program scale up [23]; CHW program integration [38]; peer telephone calls for multiple health issues [69]; intervention design factors that influence CHW performance [15]; role of allied health assistants in the health system [70, 71]; the dimensions of lay health worker programs [13]
  3. **Two articles on maternal mental health are classified under maternal health [72, 73]
  4. #One review on pediatric chronic disease had no regional focus and included only non-communicable chronic diseases (asthma, diabetes, obesity and failure to thrive) [56]; another review was specific to childhood asthma [57]; one study on adult chronic disease in South Africa primarily dealt with HIV, so is classified under “HIV”, but we note that five of the 29 articles in that review were on mental health [74]
  5. ##For one review (on CHWs for palliative care) [75], no articles met the inclusion criteria but the search included LMICs and HICs
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Human Resources for Health

ISSN: 1478-4491