Giving Compass' Take:

• An article from Thomson Reuters Foundation on Global Citizen details the unparalleled work being done against COVID by women health workers in African communities.

• Why are these women health workers so vital in dispelling myths and teaching good hygiene in Africa? What can you do to support unpaid women health workers in Africa?

• Find out how you can fund unpaid women health workers and other coronavirus response efforts.

Armed with a face mask, notebook, and pen, Everlyne Akinyi Omondi sets out each morning from her one-room home in Nairobi's informal settlement of Kawangware to do a job few others would contemplate in a pandemic.

As cases of the new coronavirus climb and Kenyans are told to stay home and avoid human contact, 38-year-old Omondi moves house to house through Kawangware's maze of narrow lanes.

Standing at the doorways of the cramped, corrugated houses, she talks about COVID-19, shows residents how to wash hands or don a mask, patiently answering their questions.

The mother of three is not a doctor, nurse, or medic of any sort — just one of tens of thousands of ordinary African women who, without fanfare, battle the virus in their communities.

Poorly paid or not at all, these unsung armies of mostly female community health workers have for years doled out advice and health services to families living in remote villages and urban slums who lack formal support.

Now, as transmission of the new coronavirus spreads, women like Omondi are essential foot soldiers in the war on COVID-19.

Initially the virus multiplied more slowly in Africa than in Asia or Europe, but all 54 nations on the continent are now infected, with more than 330,000 cases and over 8,800 deaths combined, says the African Union's Centre for Disease Control.

Omondi, who has been working as a community health volunteer for 10 years without pay and is responsible for 100 households in her neighbourhood, would welcome some recognition.

"Having a salary or some stipend would be really useful," said Omondi, whose five-strong family struggles to get by. "But you know, most of us are doing this work because we have something in (our) heart that tells us that we cannot let our neighbour suffer."

Read the full article about Africa's women health workers from Thomson Reuters Foundation at Global Citizen.